MLB owners have officially locked out the players union, initiating the first work stoppage in the sport since the 1994-95 season. The 26 years of labor peace was the longest active streak in major U.S. professional sports.
The MLBPA and owners have been negotiating for months, and more consistently for the past few days, but according to multiple reports and public statements, it doesn’t seem like the two sides ever got particularly close to a deal.
So when the collective bargaining agreement that governs the sport expired at midnight without an agreed upon new one in place, the owners unanimously voted to implement a lockout. The maneuver is a negotiating tool that prevents employees from working. Now all baseball activities — free agent signings, trades, team-sanctioned workouts, and much more — are halted.
Here’s what you need to know about the 2021 MLB Lockout:
The lockout in a sentence
As tensions have risen for years, MLB players and MLB owners — who share similar but not identical motivations — arrive at a natural point to try to inch closer to their goals and are now forced to focus on achieving them.
What does it mean for the Giants?
President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has said the Giants’ approach to the offseason wasn’t any different even with the extraordinary circumstances. It’s been business as usual.
In turn, San Francisco committed $162.9 million, seventh-most in MLB and fourth-most in the National League.
Before the lockout, San Francisco began filling out its starting rotation by bringing back Alex Wood and Anthony DeSclafani and signing Alex Cobb. Cobb, who most recently pitched for the Los Angeles Angels, said finding a home before the lockout wasn’t a main priority for him.
Zaidi added the Giants “still have work to do” to fill out the rotation. They are likely also interested in adding a right-handed outfielder. That will have to wait for whenever the owners and players union eventually strike an agreement.
What happens now
For most players you know, nothing happens. But stagnation matters.
While management and the players union continue to negotiate — a note: they’re legally required to negotiate in good faith — the rest of the league is frozen.
As ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported in his column, a lockout has serious implications for players. Writes Passan:
Those rehabbing from injuries can’t communicate with the team’s training staff. Players who rely on team-run wellness programs for therapy or mental health issues must cease engagement. There is fear among players from Latin America that their visa statuses could be problematic. A lockout preparation guide distributed by the union and obtained by ESPN said: “If a Player on a P-1 or O-1 visa has not entered the United States prior to the commencement of the lockout, the visa could be revoked. Players with petitions to extend or renew their visas will have their petitions suspended if they have not entered the United States prior to the commencement of the lockout. In addition, visa may not be renewed or extended during a lockout.”
How teams approach it should be interesting. Will any use the lockout as an excuse to trim staff? Could there be furloughs? How will teams sell advertising with the threat of games lost? Will season-ticket holders try to back out of agreements?
That’s a big deal for a Giants organization that values mental health, has several Latin American players rostered and a training staff that’s heavily involved with the team.
Minor league transactions — both signings and trades — are allowed, but young, developing players may be most affected by the lockout. It’s possible some lower or mid-level players may go overseas given the uncertainty.
Otherwise, some Inside Baseball minutiae has already started to play out. MLB.com wiped all its content referencing players. Coaches still have their photos public on their profiles, but players are now grayed out. One pitcher joked about needing a new physical therapist.
And already, both Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark aren’t pulling punches.
What about the hot stove?
Because everyone in the sport knew this was coming, there was essentially an artificial deadline for free agency. This led to a historic flurry of signings league-wide, driven mainly by star players.
Teams spent nearly $2 billion in free agency, according to Fangraphs’ Jon Becker’s tracker. Shortstop Corey Seager signed a 10-year, $325 mega deal with the Texas Rangers. Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Marcus Semien, Robbie Ray and Javier Báez also inked contracts worth over $100 million.
Several stars, including Carlos Correa, Kris Bryant and Clayton Kershaw, remain on the free agency market, but the overall rate of signings felt more like an NBA trade deadline than an average late-November MLB offseason.
What the players want
Two key points:
- According to The New York Times’ Tyler Kepner, the average salary for MLB players has declined 6% since 2016 — even as franchise values steadily rise.
- Owners receive 57% of the league’s revenue compared to the players’ 43%, a much more skewed split than the NBA, NHL and NFL.
Those facts arch over the “core economics” umbrella. The players — those on the field providing the product people pay for — feel they deserve more.
The issues aren’t limited to basic finance, though. The Players Association sent a memo — obtained by The Athletic — to its members detailing its goals. They included incentivizing competition, preventing service time manipulation and getting players paid earlier.
There are a myriad of possible proposals that could accomplish some of those things, such as reforming the arbitration system or eliminating the competitive balance tax to increase spending.
What the owners want
Unlike the players, the owners don’t believe MLB needs to overhaul its economic system. They view the issues as a revenue distribution problem, not an overall revenue sharing problem.
But despite a preference for stagnation, they still need to play ball with the union. Some proposals they’ve made include making arbitration salary more performance-based by putting emphasis on metrics like WAR and making free agency age-based as opposed to the current experience format.
Management also pitched an NBA-style draft lottery and a lowered competitive balance tax with a salary floor. Each idea is almost certainly unpopular with the MLBPA.
Will the game look the same?
Whenever MLB resumes, it’s quite likely there are some major rule changes.
With universally acknowledged pace of play issues, there’s motivation both on the player and management side to amend baseball’s constitution. This could include a universal designated hitter, a pitch clock, and other tweaks. Notably, an expanded playoffs from 10 to 14 teams is also on the table.
Manfred can institute some changes unilaterally, but has said he’d prefer to collectively bargain them.
Will the season be impacted?
Almost nobody expects MLB to miss part of the season. Everybody loses when the season’s impacted. But if February approaches and things are still murky, then there will be cause for concern.
Until then, bundle up for a cold, dark winter for MLB.