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https://twitter.com/martinonyc/status/1499497290972684291 [bLOCKQUOTE]Four Major League Baseball owners — Bob Castellini of the Reds, Chris Ilitch of the Tigers, Ken Kendrick of the Diamondbacks and Arte Moreno of the Angels — objected to raising the competitive balance tax to the levels the league ultimately proposed most recently, three people briefed on an owner-wide call held this week told The Athletic. MLB moved forward with the proposal anyway, moving its offer on the first threshold to $220 million — up $10 million from where it was in 2021, and $6 million from its previous offer, but still far below the players' ask of $238 million. ... In bargaining, owners have used the Mets, and their relatively new owner Steve Cohen, and the Dodgers as examples of teams they're worried about outspending the competition, sources said. https://theathletic.com/3162810/2022/03/04/sources-angels-diamondbacks-reds-and-tigers-owners-opposed-mlb-luxury-tax-increase/https://theathletic.com/3162810/2022/03/04/sources-angels-diamondbacks-reds-and-tigers-owners-opposed-mlb-luxury-tax-increase/[/bLOCKQUOTE] Moreno doesn't like his neighboring LAD spending so much, even though he pays Trout and Rendon a lot of money. He also spent more for Syndergaard than Cohen did. The Tigers outbid the Mets for Javy Baez. Yet, this is largely about Cohen.

Edgy MD wrote: I'd be deeply disappointed by a capitulation by the players. They have exclusive possession of most of the best talent in the world. What do the owners have? Last I checked, there's no shortage of rich folks who can take out a lease on a ballpark and order some uniforms. I agree with you but the problem with the players' taking a tough stance is that they have a finite amount of time to use that talent. The rich folks will be some degree of rich for much longer.

The minor leagues will go on as scheduled but not with any player on the 40-man roster. This means that some of the Mets top prospects won't be able to play:

So much for that. F Manfred, F Reinsdorf.

You know and I know that the more teams that make the playoffs the more you dilute the value of the regular season. With 14 or even 12 teams in, you run the risk of this, as an example: ATL has a 3 game lead on the Mets with two weeks to go but the NL East winner is only the 3d best record so there is no possibility of a first-round bye. The Mets are 8 up on the 7th best record so they are definitely going to make the playoffs. Do the Mets sit/minimize Jake and Scherzer for these two weeks to save them for the playoffs? That's an example of what will happen with expanded playoffs.

"Serves em both right for dicking around all of December/January without even attempting negotiations." From my perspective, MLB locked out the players and then dicked around for nine weeks so they have been dickier. Yeah but it's not like the players didn't know they were locked out. Were they pressing to get the owners to the table and find out how to get them to unlock the doors? I think no Fair point. I haven't read anything about that.

It appears that the two sides are closer to an agreement. The Players have been insistent on keeping the 162-game schedule (so they get their full salaries) but we should be in the first week of ST games already and the season is scheduled to start on March 31. I guess they could start camp ASAP (think of the player movement), move Opening Day back two weeks, and extend the season for a week while eliminating an off-day or two plus play some doubleheaders (which the Owners hate so they'll be the crappy day/night ones). They agreed to expand the playoffs to 12 teams, and not 14 (out of 30!) as the Owners wanted. So? The two division winners with the best records get a first-round bye, the 3d plays 6 and 4 plays 5? There was also talk of giving the teams with the better records home field in every first-round game. Another 12-team format: [bLOCKQUOTE]Expand to three wild card teams in each league instead of four and have them play their own round that does not involve the division winners. For example, the bottom two wild cards play a one-game playoff, with the loser automatically eliminated. The winner of the first wild card game advances to play the top wild card team, with the winner of that game advancing to the Division Series and the loser going home If MLB wants to give a better reward to the wild card teams, the second wild card "round" can be three games long instead of one. And all the games can be at the home park of the top wild card team in order to play them on three straight days and minimize travel Expand the division series to seven games from five, which would remove part of the crapshoot nature of the current five-game division series -- and would make up for some of the lost revenue from going to 12 teams instead of 14 Since the 14-team proposal had the top division winner in each league sitting around while the three-game Wild Card round played out, the fact that they'd also sit around for days under this proposal shouldn't be an issue. https://sny.tv/articles/mlb-playoffs-expanding-12-teams-2022?fbclid=IwAR0HtpP0xpzEhAhEA0O5gXnJkaPc0YMN-9XfpR-52-Q2rgBaBl5HsIbzuWohttps://sny.tv/articles/mlb-playoffs-expanding-12-teams-2022?fbclid=IwAR0HtpP0xpzEhAhEA0O5gXnJkaPc0YMN-9XfpR-52-Q2rgBaBl5HsIbzuWo [/bLOCKQUOTE]

"Serves em both right for dicking around all of December/January without even attempting negotiations." From my perspective, MLB locked out the players and then dicked around for nine weeks so they have been dickier.

In the absence of any player news, we have this: https://twitter.com/martinonyc/status/1498046340001144832 https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-benn/https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-benn/ https://www.mlb.com/news/mets-hire-elizabeth-benn-as-director-of-major-league-opshttps://www.mlb.com/news/mets-hire-elizabeth-benn-as-director-of-major-league-ops

I would respectfully say that it "allows" teams to make anti-competitive decisions, because of revenue sharing of national TV deals and merch, etc.

Quoting Ken Rosenthal in today's "The Athletic": "The small- and mid-market clubs seemingly are dictating the league's hard-line positions...." NYM, NYY, LAD, and, BOS are a majority of the teams that drive the ratings which enable the owners to get higher revenue from national TV deals and this revenue is split equally, even with AZ, PIT and BAL, and yet a majority of the owners want to stifle the owners of the very teams that bring it more revenue. This makes no sense, especially when the AZ, PIT, and BAL owners are under no obligation to spend that money for a better team. The mid- and small-owners want to bring the big markets down to their level.

Edgy MD wrote: It's really a shame that this is even coming up. The Braves put together this great lineup and won a championship despite Ronald Acuña, Travis d'Arnaud, and Marcell Azuna missing most of the season/post-season. I'm curious as to why is this a "shame" to a Mets fan? As a generic baseball fan, as a Braves fan, sure. As a Mets fan, it is frigging fantastic! He can go to the MFYs for all I care as long as he doesn't resign with ATL (WSH and MIA wouldn't sign him and I don't think that PHI is interested).

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: As you'll all surely remember I had a very successful Fantasy team with 4 first basemen (Freddy, Votto, Belt & Smith) so it can be totally be done Good precedent! Tell Billy to make it happen!

...rock steady. He's 32, likely wants 6 years, and it displaces Pete for at least half the games. It also means that Billy has to find a new home for Dom, plus figure out what to do with Cano (eat it?) as the DH spot is now filled--Pete or FF... but he'd be great in the Mets lineup.

I suspect that he is referring to the guilty verdict of the LAA employee who distributed drugs to the late Tyler Skaggs.

I remember liking Marcus Stroman. Now I see him as classless and I can't wait for the Mets to embarrass him this season. The tweet insulting the Mets and Eppler (for the tragedy in Anaheim) was deleted but not fast enough: https://twitter.com/oliviapipia/status/1496320428595453963

I must have missed that Press Release. Is there a separate coordinator for the majors and the minors? And why isn't it Casey? I'm sure that he would have something interesting to say about the job.

Outstanding work, BG. Thank you. I love that you took the time to note an actual park in Stockholm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A5lambshovsparkenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A5lambshovsparken Is the Afterlife Coordinator a new position created under the Cohen ownership? I like that old Mets yearbooks are available in the lobby. As an advocate for the winning cover from the day that G-Fafif brought it to that games' IGT, I am very pleased with the result.

This pissed me off: [bLOCKQUOTE]Remember when Cohen faced resistance in his bid to purchase the Mets, in part because other owners were worried that he would spend wildly? Four owners -- Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox, Arte Moreno of the Los Angeles Angels, Bob Castellini of the Cincinnati Reds, and Ken Kendrick of the Arizona Diamondbacks -- voted against Cohen. Steinbrenner voted "yes," and Yankees president Randy Levine was an ally to Cohen during the process. Well, now Cohen has begun to spend like Mets fans hoped and budget-conscious owners feared. It seems awfully coincidental that his competitors have devised a proposal that could prevent him from ever doing it again. Even Cohen would have to think long and hard about losing high draft picks. https://sny.tv/articles/mlb-proposal-steve-cohen-hal-steinbrennerhttps://sny.tv/articles/mlb-proposal-steve-cohen-hal-steinbrenner[/bLOCKQUOTE] We finally have an owner who treats NY as a big market and owners in small towns like Chicago and Los Angeles want to tell him what to do. I have no doubt that these are M*G* lovers who want a free market but here (like the NFL owners) they are socialists. They want to reap the shared revenue from national TV contracts (which are paid in part because of NYY-BOS matchups) and apparel sales but don't want to spend that money. F them.

I look forward to a report on MLB sending $ to the businesses that depend on ST as well as the locals who work at the ballparks.

Any of the 9 Almora voters (8 because I'm not doing it) could be a Manchin and shift the vote.

Why did SNY put Terry on the spot? Terry might have felt obligated to respond as he is likely on the SNY payroll.

He had the full career (and World Series win) that his buddy David Wright should have had. I remember seeing David decide that it was time to clean the dirt whenever Zimmerman would reach 3B so they could gab (and vice versa). DC legend Johnny Holliday wrote this comment in The Washington Post: [bLOCKQUOTE]Class in every sense of the word. During my 13 years hosting Nats Xtra on MASN, Ryan was not only an incredible interview, but just the neatest guy to sit down and visit with. We honored him at my charity golf tournament a few years ago..Ryan was the first guy there, the last to leave. His presence alone helped us raise over $235,000 for charity/ He will always be Mr Nat in my eyes......on the field......and off the field.[/bLOCKQUOTE] https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/15/ryan-zimmerman-retired/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/15/ryan-zimmerman-retired/ Zimmerman also loved The Former Guy.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: ALMORA should be gliding toward easy victory here, folks Exactly.

Keith Law ranks the farm systems for all MLB teams in The Athletic and, Casey will tell you: "Coming in at number 21, down two notches from number 19, is a band out of Flushing, it's... The New York Mets": [bLOCKQUOTE]The most top-heavy system in the minors has four guys on the top 100 [sic: it's five] and a pitcher who should return to the top 100 if he comes back successfully from Tommy John surgery. But a series of trades — some ill-advised — has badly depleted the system despite a decade of extremely productive drafts and some big hits on the international side. They traded away three of their first four picks from 2018, their two first-round picks from 2016, their second-round pick from 2019, and their first and third picks from 2020, plus two of their best international signings from that decade. It's a miracle they're not 30th. https://theathletic.com/3112765/2022/02/07/mlb-2022-farm-system-rankings-keith-law-grades-all-30-teams-on-prospects-with-the-dodgers-at-no-1/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983https://theathletic.com/3112765/2022/02/07/mlb-2022-farm-system-rankings-keith-law-grades-all-30-teams-on-prospects-with-the-dodgers-at-no-1/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983[/bLOCKQUOTE] LAD is #1, CWS is #30, WSH is #27, NYY is #22.