Major League Baseball owners, the Commissioner, Players Association, players, negotiating committees, and chief negotiators — SHAME ON YOU!

You have had months upon months to negotiate a renewal collective bargaining agreement (CBA) before the December 1, 2021 expiration date and dropped the ball — put an E, for error, by your name in the negotiating box score! Collectively, you have a broken covenant built on distrust and animosity that has elevated the business above the game — congratulations on reaching a new low point. You have dug yourself into a hole, and yet you continue to dig!

Stop! Please Stop!

Baseball may be your business, responsibility, and/or profession, but it isn’t your game. You have been temporarily entrusted as a caretaker of this wonderful game to protect and nurture it for future generations of players and fans. And, above all, to respect the game. Good grief, tanking is now part of the MLB owner vocabulary! By all appearances, you have allowed greed and selfishness to take priority over the best interests of the game.

A quote from Popeye (circa 1933) sums it up for this fan:

FIX IT!

A few suggestions on how to get out of the muck at the bottom of the hole you have dug:

• Forget about winning negotiations, do what is in the best interests of the game, fans, players, and owners. Anyone who cannot commit 100% to all of those interests should be removed from negotiations.
• Player agents are not share holders of the game, their input is biased and detrimental to good faith bargaining; they should not have a place in negotiations.
• Be innovative on how to address the issues — reimagine the CBA in today’s and tomorrow’s environment, do not let the past dictate what makes sense for the game today and the future.
• Whatever it takes, immediately eliminate teams from tanking. The integrity of the game must be protected.

For the love of the game, FIX IT!

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