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Craig Edwards FanGraphs Chat--5/28/2020
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Craig Edwards
2:40
I think the rent payment was just trying to exercise some contractual language to avoid a payment, not that they had no funds to make the payment.
The Stranger
2:40
Re: your article today, do you think this proposal is a misfire by the owners or a winning move in the long run?
Craig Edwards
2:42
I think it was a bit of a misfire not to offer something of a compromise instead of anchoring at their previous position and hoping for player dissension and fan unrest. The offer seems to have galvanized the union a bit. They can still make a stronger offer and perhaps making the initial bad offer will end up okay for them, but they put themselves in a position of negotiating against themselves, which isn't where you want to be.
Rhett
2:43
Just cancel the season at this point and only put the clubs on the hook for the March deal. Have the MLBPA agree to participate in old fashioned HR Derby, Gold Glove competitions, 1 on 1 matchups (Scherzer vs Trout), etc.. that MLB/MLBPA go into 50/50 revenue split from the TV/Ad $
Craig Edwards
2:43
I want the games. Games are more fun and more games the better.
Cyrus
2:43
Between this and the impending strike what are the odds Manfred is gone sooner rather than later? It's a disgrace how a commish leaning strongly to one side of the fence can wreck a league
Craig Edwards
2:45
Winning labor deal has been Rob Manfred's bread and butter over the years and the owners aren't likely to forget that anytime soon. There's a big labor deal coming up at the end of the 2021 season so a change isn't likely to happen before then. By the time 2022 rolls around, there might be a completely different situation. Manfred will have been on the job a long time by then and the owners might want a fresh voice, but even that would take a lot.
Howard
2:46
Who do you think will look back on this battle and want a redo more when it's all settled the owners or the players?
Craig Edwards
2:47
The owners already want a redo on the March deal. I think that although the 1994 strike and ensuing lockout wasn't good for the game, the players are probably proud of what they accomplished for future generations of players and there could be the same sentiment here. If there's a deal and a season in 2020, I doubt either side has long-term regrets.
Guest
2:48
If the taxi squad is approved, where do you think those 20 players per team will be located? Would assume AZ and FL spring training complexes and possibly play against each other to an extent?
Craig Edwards
2:49
I assume they would just stay behind in the home cities, but spring training complexes could work, too. Just depends on the individual team and how well they are set up to modify and protect a small group of players.
The Stranger
2:49
If a player already on a FA contract sits the season out, is his contract extended a year, or is the year just skipped with no pay and the contract expires on schedule?
Craig Edwards
2:50
I assume the year gets skipped.
2:51
imagine a big money player on a big FA-like contract unlikely to get another deal like this, like Ryan Braun or Jon Lester, saying they'll just skip this year and get their full contract next season. It would encourage all these guys to sit out and cost the owners millions more that they don't want to pay.
Tom
2:52
I’ve been enjoying your ten year WAR leader articles and look forward to more. Your first basemen one got me wondering, why isn’t Stan Musial considered a first baseman? He played more games in the outfield than infield but played more games at first base than any one of the outfield positions and had some of his best years as a first baseman but is still classified as mainly a left fielder.
Craig Edwards
2:54
Thank you. I did the best I could to put players in one position for every given 10-year period. It's possible I flubbed a few, but with Musial's 1900 games int he OF and 1,000 at 1B, I'm not sure there was any one 10-year period where the majority of his games were at first.
Keith
2:54
Is Nick Martini a future Hall of Famer?
Craig Edwards
2:54
Maybe in your heart.
The Stranger
2:54
Follow up: will we see pitchers on the last year of a contract sit out and go to free agency rather than risk injury in a short season?
Craig Edwards
2:55
I doubt it just because recent performance plays a pretty big role in getting free agent money. It would raise a lot of questions and ultimately hurt a pitcher's contract, most likely.
John
2:56
If the sides can't come to an agreement and no season is played, does the agreement hold as far as service? Basically, it wasn't covid that stopped the season, but disagreement?
Craig Edwards
2:57
It's still COVID stopping the agreement. Multiple safety precautions listed in the agreement haven't and won't be met. They are trying to reach an agreement despite those conditions not being met so the agreement should still hold.
Oakland_Fan2
2:57
After this season, do you believe that the new divisions will stick (eliminating the AL and NL)? This way, teams wouldn't have to travel as much, and would likely generate more revenue from new rivalries (e.g. Mets-Yankees).
Craig Edwards
2:58
I doubt it. People still really like the two leagues as separate even as they get more similar. There could be some juggling for expansion, but I think the AL and NL are still going to exist for a while.
Guest
2:59
Where have you gone, Marvin Miller, baseball turns its lonely eyes to you? Why don’t the players get a serious labor leader, one who can demand transparency and/or expose the arrogant selfishness of the billionaire owners and the manifold inequities or the current system and get something done about them?
Craig Edwards
2:59
You can't demand transparency and just get it. The union might not have gotten a good deal in 2016, but they seem stronger today than they've been in a while.
BarryBondsJuicedForOurSins
2:59
Do you have one or two sentences to tell someone defending the owners' latest proposal?
Craig Edwards
3:01
Since March, the owners maybe lost one billion dollars in expected revenue and their proposal asks the players to take on every dollar of that loss. The owners have made billions in profits over the last few years and the players didn't demand any of it.
The Stranger
3:01
A lot of commenters have suggested deferring some portion of player salaries as a compromise. Thoughts? (Apologies if you’ve touched on this in an article)
Craig Edwards
3:02
I think that might be a reasonable solution, but the owners are so far apart from that right now, there needs to be a lot more movement to get there.
Tom
3:02
Oh, I don't mean to suggest you flubbed on not including Stan as a 1B. You're right that there would be no 10 year stretch of 1B for him. My question was more global. Why do we think of him as an outfielder, chiefly a left fielder, and not a first baseman? I know in a couple biographies I've read he was always seen as an outfielder and was compared at the time to Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio. Maybe that's why? Or is it that we lump all three outfield positions together, for right or wrong?
Craig Edwards
3:02
I think most early impressions of him are as an outfielder, for the bulk of his early career, which probably matters most.
Would you rather...
3:03
...be the Astros, and likely have a full (for what it is) season of Verlander and no fans booing but maybe teetering on the edge of your window, or the Yankees, likely full seasons from the non-Severino injured folks?
Craig Edwards
3:03
I think I'd rather be the Yankees. They look like the better team, right now.
Derek
3:03
It seems that the owners are presenting a unified front in that you don’t hear any dissenting opinions voiced by ownership.  But how unified are their interests really?  Are some owners okay if no games are played while that would be disastrous for others?
Craig Edwards
3:04
That's hard to say, but we've gone from a situation where everybody is making a lot of money to everybody is making/losing widely different amounts so it makes sense that some owners would have differing interests.
Derek
3:04
How is it that if the A’s say they will not pay their minor league players beyond the end of May but they still control those players?  In a normal situation wouldn’t non-payment of salary render a contract null and void.  What makes a baseball contract unique?
Craig Edwards
3:05
I believe they are still paying benefits and the suspension of the contract is due to a national emergency, which is pretty unique to begin with.
Gotta run, everyone. Thanks for all the great questions.
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