The moment we all hoped would be avoided came on Tuesday afternoon.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the first two series of the regular season are canceled, with more to come if a new collective bargaining agreement can’t be reached with the MLB Players Association. It’s the first time in 27 years MLB games have been canceled over a labor dispute.
Many players voiced their displeasure on social media after the announcement and throughout Tuesday’s negotiations, including a few members of the Giants organization.
Evan Longoria called for MLB owners to make their clubs’ financial statements public, based on the claim by many owners and Rob Manfred that large swaths of clubs are losing money, especially post-pandemic.
Giants union rep Austin Slater gave a statement to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He believes that Manfred’s decision to cancel gams is unnecessary, and a bargaining tactic that he hoped would force the players to sign a deal that was not beneficial for them.
Brandon Crawford gave a lengthy statement to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. He pointed out that MLB refused to negotiate with the players for two months, then gave a deadline to put pressure on them.
“It’s not fair to the players who want to get back out on the field, and even more unfair to stadium employees and the fans who have no say in the whole thing,” Crawford told NBC Sports. “We hate to see that. But we’re also not going to be pressured and bullied into taking an unfair deal just because we were given a ‘deadline.’ That wouldn’t be fair to the future generations of players, which is mostly what these negotiations are about.
The notion that MLB used the last two days to try and flip the media narrative has been a common refrain from the players. Alex Wood pointed out that Monday’s reports that the two sides were close, was leaked by the owners so they could blame the players for the negotiations going south on Tuesday.
Logan Webb was perhaps the most succinct in his conclusion.
Union chief Tony Clark, speaking at a news conference later Tuesday, said the players “remain committed to the bargaining process and getting back on the field as soon as possible.