MLBTR Podcast: What The Tucker And Bichette Contracts Mean For Baseball – Also, Nolan Arenado And Ranger Suarez

Enjoy this season. It will be the last one for a while. Any hope of avoiding a work stoppage went out the window yesterday when The New York Times reported owners will push for a salary cap “no matter what.”

“No matter what” means fans be damned. “No matter what” means they are willing to lose an entire season or two or more to prove a point.

Owners are furious at the salary imbalance and are going to take the nuclear option of forcing players into a position players don’t want in order solve a problem players aren’t responsible for. It all leads to one big question. Who are owners at odds with? It’s not the players. Owners are furious with owners.

They are going to go into a labor negotiation that’s not Side A versus Side B, it’s Side A versus Side A.

Sorry, players are not to blame in this scenario. Every human being would do exactly as the players have done. Why blame the players? They are not sneaking into owners’ houses at night and writing a check to themselves. If Pittsburgh and Colorado and Miami and the White Sox aren’t willing to spend money to be competitive, and the Dodgers, Mets, and Blue Jays are, who’s at fault here? The Rangers owners have decided not to be competitive this year, not the Rangers players.

Isn’t trying to win the point?

It’s as if Mom and Dad are fighting over the grocery bill and the consequence of that fight is they will refuse to feed the kids. Starve the kids and they will learn the hard way to affect the price of groceries, right? It doesn’t make sense

There will be a World Baseball Classic, a 162-game schedule, and All-Star Game, playoffs, and a World Series.

Then, nothing. Months and years of nothing. Because billionaires hate being told no. Especially by other billionaires.