Dodgers Team News

MLB News: Players Have Been Locked Out By the League and Things Will Be Quite Different

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you knew this was coming. Officially, Major League Baseball owners have locked out the players after the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. This is the first work stoppage of this kind in more than three decades, with the last coming in 1990

The last time the two sides were this at odds there was a players strike that ended the 1994 season. This lockout, however, shouldn’t come to that… hopefully.

Already, the players union and league are each playing the victim card online, blaming the other side. The union said the shutdown is “a dramatic measure” that was the owners’ choice.

While the league had this to say, via the MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred.

Despite the league’s best efforts to make a deal with the Players Association, we were unable to extend our 26 year-long history of labor peace and come to an agreement with the MLBPA before the current CBA expired.

The league has labeled this is a “defensive lockout” which it deemed necessary to protect the interest (and money) of club owners.

What Exactly Does a Lockout Mean for the Offseason?

Jayson Stark of The Athletic covered the key points of what can and (mainly) can’t happen until a new CBA is agreed upon.

Player movement is now on hold. No trades. No signings. Zero activity. Players can’t even workout at team facilities. All in all, a much worse scenario than the drama fans experienced last year while the two sides navigated toward a safe return to playing the game after the pandemic shutdown.

While there was a flurry of player movement in recent days, more than 300 free agents still remain on the open market and now, technically, in limbo.

What’s at Play?

I’m hardly an expert in this subject because, well, labor negotiations just aren’t all that exciting. But the overview simplified is that MLB is fighting the narrative that its player reward system (mainly free agency) is broken. The league also wants to expand the playoff system to include more teams which, in turn, means more money in owners’ pockets via lucrative broadcasting rights.

What the players are arguing for is fair to most. They want more of the money that they help teams earn. MLB clubs draft players and essentially own them for the next six years of their life at minimum. And, for most of those years, the organizations don’t need to pay the player all that much, relatively speaking.

For all the hundreds of millions of dollars some players make in free agency, there are dozens more earning the major league minimum and having their service time toyed with in a way that benefits the billionaires that own the teams. To explain it better, Jesse Rogers of ESPN wrote it this way.

Players feel, with the emergence of analytics within front offices, that fewer and fewer second- and third-tier players are getting paid when they finally become free agents after six years of major league service time, which is often when a player turns 30 or very close to it. In general, players would like to be paid more at younger ages because that’s when they are in their prime. The system also favors keeping players in the minor leagues for several weeks extra to slow down their major league service time. Players hate that.

The two sides have each pitched different proposals to one another that have been so far apart from the other side that recent meetings have lasted fewer than 10 minutes.

Among other points of interest are, again, expanded playoffs, with the league fighting for 14 teams and the union allowing 12 teams instead of the current 10 team structure. The universal designated hitter is also at play as well as an effort to establish a salary minimum for teams in an effort to mitigate tanking. The competitive balance tax is also a sticking point, which the union wants bumped up to $245 million from $210 million. This would allow teams to spend more on second and third tier free agents along with premium talent.

Things to Know

Of the other oddities during this lockout, MLB entities and websites under the MLB.com umbrella will look quite different.

As it stands, MLB cannot use player images on its properties. So a roster page will be looking quite plain. Additionally, no content based on active players can be displayed.

Looking Forward

While the 2022 season isn’t quite at risk just yet. But with each passing day and week, opening day gets a little more threatened. And certainly the start of spring training, which in all likelihood will end up shortened due to this mess.

Buckle up, baseball fans. It’s going to be a long and barren winter. 

NEXT: Dodgers Insider Confirms LA is Engaged in Talks with Freddie Freeman

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

9 Comments

  1. Of course this would happen; the deal should have been hammered out last July. I get some of the players points but Scherzer’s 43M AVV and Seager’s 325M contract belie the notion that free agency is broken for players and, with a minimum salary for making the roster of $570,500 a year, it’s hard to claim young players are cheated. Baseball analytics have matured to where a player’s value is well known to all. Stars will eventually become ridiculously wealthy while competent players will become just wealthy. And the position that players are the game is similarly false. I was a fan of Willie Davis before Pedro Guerrero before JT; players come and go while fans who follow teams much longer than a player’s career determine what’s the game. All that said, owners shown legislate against tanking and figure out how to more equitably profit share so that all teams have a fighting chance to compete. Quit squabbling and figure it out.

  2. Even with the lockout, the Dodgers can still make a HUGE move and fire Roberts the Clown, right?

  3. Maybe we can help by sending letters to Stan Kasten at Los Angeles Dodgers, 1000 Vin Scully Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Be polite, and stick to the facts. While there is some conjecture about players leaving to play for someone not named DR, don’t just make up crap. That won’t help. Get going…..

  4. With this is the hope that now more fans will boycott the game and say they will not return. The MLB lost many fans due to that 1994-1095 strike. But there’s a reason why in the Scriptures it points out that money is at the root of all evils.

  5. I’m glad both sides have addressed the affordability factor for middle class fans. Outrageous ticket prices, sky high concession prices at the park and more.

    Oh, no, neither side has. It’s just the battle between the millionaires and the billionaires. I enjoy the game, but a pox on both their houses. Ask either side what they want and the answer is MORE.

  6. Millionaires fighting with billionaires both with the same goal. To shake every last nickle out of your unsuspecting pocket. If you’ve ever seen pigs at a trough or a politician with tax money you’ll understand the unmitigated greed MLB is about to unleash. Guard your wallet.

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