- Post the first comment
- Back to the blog
DETROIT -- Labour peace in our time? Amazing? Not really.
Anybody who had a read of the situation in 2002 knew there wouldn’t be a strike then, even though negotiations went down to the deadline of Aug. 30 before the strike date set by the players.
This time there wasn’t a need to set a strike date. A new five-year agreement should be announced this week before the current one expired.
You only needed to be half awake to know that the players sure didn’t want a strike in 2002. The owners weren’t that keen on it and they got some pretty good concessions from the players. The scars from the 1994 strike that wiped out the World Series were still too fresh. So there would be no strike, no matter how much some people in the media seemed to be pushing for one, perhaps out of habit.
And if Paul Beeston, the former Blue Jays CEO who worked from Major League Baseball then, had been allowed by commissioner Bud Selig to continue his good work with the players association that 2002 agreement would have been done a lot sooner. Our Bud wouldn’t let it happen. Selig will get a lot of credit for establishing peace, more than he deserves. Don’t forget the 1994 strike was under his watch, too. If someone gets enough chances they’re liable to get it right, though.
The money is good in the game right now, always was pretty good, whining aside. Free agency hasn’t ruined the game the way the owners said it would. Now the owners have become a little smarter and have stopped trying to shove a salary-cap formula down the players’ throats, something they wouldn’t accept.
The luxury tax and revenue-sharing seem to be working and that will basically be in effect in the new agreement. And there will remain some draft-pick compensation for the signing of top free agents.
There was incentive to get the deal done now because it means the luxury tax will be in effect next season, which is good for most teams other than the New York Yankees. Under terms of the existing agreement that expires on Dec. 19, it wouldn’t have been in effect next season.
Start the Conversation, Leave a Comment
This conversation is semi-moderated What is moderation? | How do I report a comment?
You must be logged-in to submit a comment — login now!
Not registered with globeandmail.com? Register now. It is quick and free.
Alert us about this comment
Please let us know if this reader’s comment breaks the editor's rules and is obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive by selecting the appropriate option to describe the problem.
Do not use this to complain about comments that don’t break the rules, for example those comments that you disagree with or contain spelling errors or multiple postings.
