MLBPA Lead Negotiator Bruce Meyer on Manfred’s comments, Salary cap battle, Lockout threats

00:00:00
Speaker 1: I've run into owners at games and things, and when I introduce myself, they literally say, we're not allowed to talk to you. I think they get fined, so you know, again that's just a little ironic.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: Bruce Meyer joining us right now, the deputy executive director of the Players Association.

00:00:20
Speaker 3: Bruce.

00:00:21
Speaker 2: Great to have you on foul Territory. Thank you so much for the time, and I figure I'll just start with a quick intro just like we do, you know, passing the rock, and say your name and what you do for those that are unaware of you know, how your position works within the MLBPA. Can you enlighten us on what you've been able to do within the Players Association?

00:00:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks Scott. Pleasure to be on it. What did they say on the Collin Shows? First time, long time fan, So happy to be on. Yeah. I'm the deputy executive director. I'm also the lead negotiator and collective argaining. I came on in I believe it was September of two thousand eighteen, so been through been through a lot. I've been through the pandemic, been through collective bargaining in twenty one, twenty two. I've been through the first minor league collective Bargaining Agreement, and obviously preparing for the next Major League CBA. The current CBA, as you know, inspires in December of twenty twenty six. So we've been doing what we always do, meeting with players, collecting feedback, and getting ready for whatever's coming. Purse.

00:01:31
Speaker 4: Before we dig into this interview here, relax, I know you don't do a lot of interviews. Relax, It's okay. You know, you know this stuff like the back of your hand. Just take a deep.

00:01:40
Speaker 3: Breath, Relax.

00:01:40
Speaker 4: You know, if we need to get someone over there to rub on your shoulders a little bit gets you to calm down, It's okay. We're not going to ask any hard hitting questions that you haven't answered a thousand times for Tony Clark. So smile, enjoy the interview, and you're gonna do great. I'm proud of you for coming on with us.

00:01:56
Speaker 1: So prest of all, I appreciate that although I'm fine, I have always tense. And second, I'm having a like a weird lag, which your producer told me you're not seeing. So when I talk, I'm seeing my lips move like a few seconds later, So it's throwing me off. But I'm great, AJ, and I appreciate that.

00:02:19
Speaker 3: There you go.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: Hey, all right, so let's get to biss. Let's try this out part of our reach out to you. Of course, we want to have you on at some point. Anyway, was timing. We covered the story last week in The Athletic from Evandrelic that brought to light many comments that became public from Rob Manfred about his latest message, which seemed to be directed towards players in Major League Baseball. What did you think of what he said? And what do you think is the response from the players Association to someone on the other side trying to stir the pot.

00:02:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, first of all, I'll say it's not new. I mean Rob has done that in the past, gone to locker rooms, talk to players, players, tell us that he's coming players. Usually player rep talks to us after he's done, So it's not new. I'll say. Also, you know, basically it's kind of continuation of a pattern which has gone on for decades, which is, you know, the other side. I mean, it's a labor labor relationship. The other side tries to go directly to players, tries to create divisions between players and other players or players in the Union, and and and that's part of, you know, part of what they do. And again it's nothing new. So we've been meeting with our players pretty much continuously. So our players are are educated and informed, and I think they understand where Rob's coming from when he comes to me.

00:03:51
Speaker 3: With them, it was a different tact. It was a different type. In my playing days, I'd never yeah, he would come in and he would chat or talk, but to do it publicly, it felt like it felt like more to me, it felt like, as a player, more of an attack. Why do you think now is the time that he chose to do that? Because he doesn't choose things just singularly. Why did the group Why didn't Major League Baseball owners feel like this was a good time to do this.

00:04:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, I hesitate to try and interpret what's in their minds. But look, I mean it's been no secret. I mean they, the league and some of the individual owners have made no secret that they would like to see a system that they've tried to get for fifty years, which is a salary cap system. I think probably there's a lot of pressure on the other side internally to try and take a stab at that, but we'll see. But you know, that seems to be the impetus. You guys know, after the last CBA, they immediately formed this Economic Study Committee, which some people think, you know, was was largely the salary cap Study Committee. But but we'll see what what they actually propose. You know, you've been you've been seeing a lot of talk, though more than usual, from individual owners about things they would like to see in the next system. So I think that's probably really the driving uh the driving force behind it. And you know, it's a little ironic because we're they don't actually allow their owners to talk to us. I've run into owners at games and things, and when I introduce myself, they literally say, we're not allowed to talk to you. I think they get fined. So, you know, again that's just a little ironic. Uh, they're apparently afraid of their owners talking to us individually. But you know, I think I think it's par for the course the last couple of years. And again, our players, you know, we do everything we can to make sure our players are educated and they understand what they're hearing, and if they have questions, they'll ask ask us before or after. And so you know we're dealing with it crats.

00:06:07
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00:06:21
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00:07:07
Speaker 4: Hey, Bruce, you mentioned owners not talking to you guys, We had Dexter Foller on here and he's part of the Special Commissioners Players Association Outreach whatever. I don't know what it's called, but what's the thought on that? Because I kind of questioned Dexter about it, like, man, this is weird because you know, you're, as a former player, part of the union. You're going in to tell players, hey, let's stand with the commissioner here. Now he said, that's not how it works. But is there any thought from the player association like why are players going to work for the other side, Because then they come into the to the room and they get access to the other players, and then they can run back and say, hey, Rob, this is what the players are talking about. Does it give them any extra granted access because of that?

00:07:47
Speaker 1: Yeah? Look, I mean I obviously wasn't wasn't the player and and you know, all due respect to anybody who played the game, and in terms of what guys choose to do in their in their post career careers, you know, I'm not going to question that. I will say, you know, there are players who are being paid by MLB and who are going with Rob to the locker rooms and trying to sell players on a system that this union has historically thought was bad for players and that they themselves didn't have to live under when they played. So you know, I mean that, I guess I'll say players, I think see it for what it is. Players know when they see those guys in the locker room with Rob pitching a system that the league wants. Players know those guys are getting paid. And again, it may be great players, maybe former teammates, maybe guys they respect, but I think players take it for what it is. Players understand what's going on, and again, who's being paid to do? What?

00:08:53
Speaker 3: Can you comment on the commissioner's words when he said he wouldn't have lost billions of players when you break it down and you look at it, and that is like you were the one that that agreed to this deal that lost the players. Like he's saying that the billions wouldn't have been lost if the players would just come over and listen to what he has to say or follow him.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I mean the whole premise. And again, you know, the cap talk is nothing new. I mean they've proposed something like a cap or a weight scale at least five times, going back to the seventies, and you know, the pitch is like, hey, this is really good for the players. And you know, one of the things players immediately sees on as well, if this is so good for us, then why are they pushing it so hard? Why do they want it so desperately? Why did the other leagues, you know, lock out players to get it. So you know, when when faced with a claim that hey, this is really good for you, it's going to put money in your pockets again, I think guys immediately understand that the reason they want that system is not because they want to pay players more. They can pay players more today. So you know, it's a little unclear what's being referred to and talking about. Well, you know, if you had this system, you could have had two billion dollars. I mean again, I don't know what proposal is being referred to there. But the fact of the matter is they want that system because it's going to ultimately put more money in their pockets. It's going to increase their profits, it's going to increase their franchise values, and that's that's why they wanted I mean, frankly, if it was so good for the players and it was going to cost them so much money for players. Why don't you see the other leagues, you know, trying trying to give up those systems. Why don't you see the other league say, hey, you know this is costing us a lot of money, like let's go back to the pre cap system. So I think there's the right the right amount of skepticism among players when they hear claims like that.

00:10:58
Speaker 2: All right, we're back with Bruce Bye from the MLB Players Association. Let's continue the salary cap talk, shall we. So, Bruce, you mentioned how a commissioner, Rob Manfred, you know, brings up the billions of dollars that the players could have had from some magic pot that I don't know where that came from. So to continue the salary cap discussion, why do you think that you know, we're in a position here where it's become more of a push from the league side. And the big follow up for me is are they able to share more money as a league without anything having to do with the salary cap? If the biggest complaint is, hey, the pirates, or bring up another team that doesn't spend much would spend all of this money if we had a salary cap? Why don't they just help them out with revenue sharing to distribute their piece of the pot a little bit better.

00:11:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, a couple of things, Scott. First of all, on revenue sharing, they can't change the way they share revenues. We have negotiating with us. That's something that's been collectively bargained for, you know, decades and including the last round of bargaining. So if they want to share more revenues, that's not something they can do by themselves without negotiating with us. But there are things you can do, you know, to the extent we have some teams that don't want to spend. There are things you can do to incentivize teams to spend. We proposed some of them last time. The league wasn't interested. Last time in bargaining, we proposed numerous changes to the revenue sharing system. We said, look, it doesn't make sense right now. You're giving all this money to certain teams and they're not spending it. They're and they're basically, you know, putting the money away. And what we heard from the league was, we don't disagree on some of these things, but we can't change it. We won't change it. I mean literally, last time the league told us we will not change revenue sharing period, and they didn't. They never wavered from that. This time, you know, it may be different this time. They're reasons to believe the league may may be more open to that discussion. But you could make changes. It would have to be be negotiated in terms of you know, the cap. They you know, we're always asked about a floor, right, so well, it wouldn't be good to have a floor. And just to be clear on a couple of things, we're not against a floor. If if if they came to us and said, we'll give you a floor, my response would be great, what does it come with? And historically that has always come with a cap. And the last round of negotiations we had in exchange with one of their owners who literally said any any amount in a floor would have to be paid for dollars for dollars somewhere else. So when they talk about a floor, what they're really talking about is just taking money from somewhere else and giving it to a different team. You know, what they call a zero S game. Just you know, they're talking about converting into a system where nobody can spend more than the amount. Now again, there are other ways to incentivize tams, whether through you know, a floor or a soft floor, or having the right incentives. And again we're always, you know, open minded about things like that, but to be clear, the league's conception of a floor has always been we're going to take money from a team that wants to spend it and give it to a team that doesn't want to spend it and somehow make them spend it. But at the end of the day, you're transfer transforming it into a system where where nobody can can fully ever be competitive. Nobody can, excuse me, can compete. Nobody can. It's it's really the opposite of competition, salary cap, you know, it's really what it is really as a form of collusion. You know, for years there was collusion and trying to figure out ways to collude. Well, if you have a cast system, you don't have to clude because it is a collusion. Nobody can compete to put the best team on the field, you know, on any given day. So you know, those are just some things to keep in mind about a cap system. And another thing, I apolo just doesn't really go to your question, but you know, one of the things I think people don't appreciate about that kind of system is individual guaranteed contracts. You really can't have them in the cap systems the way our players have them in baseball and football. You know, this is most obvious. I mean, every free agent period it's like a bloodbath. They're cutting players, players at all levels, you know, Pro Bowl players, middle class players, to try and squeeze in a salary for a quarterback. Even the quarterbacks they go to continuously and say, oh, would you take less so we could sign this guy. Very few contracts in football are fully guaranteed. In basketball and hockey they have escro means your contract is not really guaranteed. And in fact, there was an article just a few days ago about basketball their players because the revenues didn't meet projections, their players had to give back five hundred million dollars almost of their guaranteed salaries. So, you know, there are other things that come along with a cap system. You know, it's not just a math problem like well here's how much you're getting, now here's how much you would get. It undermines guarantees, It eroads guarantees, freedom of movement, freedom to structure contracts, freedom to do early extensions. All of those things are things that come along with a cap, things that you basically can't do anymore.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: So I think it's clear, I mean, on your side, obviously, it's going to hurt the player perspective, which goes against what Commissioner Manfred just said. I'll try and do a nice and simple question, then let you run with it, and some of it you already covered, but I just feel like I need to queue it up this way. We get so much fan feedback, especially in the off season.

00:16:44
Speaker 3: We need a cap.

00:16:45
Speaker 2: It will cure everything.

00:16:47
Speaker 1: Right.

00:16:47
Speaker 2: I'm a fan of a small market team and I'm sick of seeing the Dodgers sign all of these players. If not a cap, what is the solution to get those teams more competitive with the big juggernauts in baseball?

00:17:04
Speaker 1: So a few things. I mean, first of all, when you look at the history of MLB, the recent history, and particularly when you're compared it to other sports, I mean, small market teams have been successful. You know, I grew up in New York rooting for the New York Mets. The Mets haven't won a World Series in forty years. The Dodgers have won two in thirty eight years. You know, the Yankees haven't won fifteen years, I mean since the Mets last won a World Series. Clubs that have won World Series include Minnesota, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Saint Louis won two. Tampa seems to be doing great every year. If I'm not mistaken, this year, the best record in baseball is the Detroit Tigers. The Milwaukee Brewers have been successful pretty much year after year. If you look at the standings over since like twenty ten. In the top I looked at this the other day, in the top eight, teams are the best record. You're going to see Cleveland, You're going to see Milwaukee, You're going to see you going to see Tampa, You're going to see Baltimore. So, you know, teams, and particularly with the expanded playoffs, I mean, you do have teams at all levels, small market teams who were able to be to be competitive. In the last twenty five years, the team with the top payroll has won the World Series four times. Okay, So the notion that there's a crisis, I mean, I remember, and I know you guys remember it was only a year ago that we had Arizona and Texas in the World Series, and I think Arizona had the eighth ice payroll and Texas had the eighteenth ice payroll, So I think the league is kind of weaponizing. Oh my god, the Dodgers won the World Series last year and they signed a bunch of players. Some of those players, by the way, you know, anybody, anybody could have signed to a fan in a small market. And of course, if you look at other sports, I mean, we're all fans of other sports. You see the Patriots who made eight straight AFC finals in a cap system. Hockey has had three repeat winners in the last few years. Baseball hasn't had a repeat winner in twenty six years. So again I think the whole premise is wrong to fans in small markets. I would say, look, competition is crucial for us, crucial for players. Our market system that we have, it's not perfect by any means, but it relies on competition to the extent we have teams that are unwilling to compete. It's not because the Dodgers went out and signed some players. I mean, that doesn't explain why the Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, don't go out and spend money. It's not because the Dodgers spend money. There are other reasons why they don't do that. Now. We have proposed in the past, and I'm sure we'll propose again incentives ways to try and ensure that teams do spend the money they get in revenue sharing. To reward teams for being competitive, we proposed last time in bargaining that small market teams that I think finished over five hundred and made the playoffs we get extra draft picks. The league wasn't interested. And by the way, small market teams already get massive amounts of revenue sharing, They get an equal share of central revenues they get from what they call the Commissioner's Discretionary Fund, and they get advantages in the systems. Small market teams have built in advantages in our system, whether with respect to international pool money or or draft picks. So there are there are already lots of things in there that are being done to try and make sure teams can be competitive. And as they said, small market teams, many of them have proven that they can be competitive. And so look, I think I think what the cap gives some owners is an all purpose excuse. Hey, I'd like to spend more, but I can't you know, it's fundamentally anti competitive. But again, we have lots of things in our system already and and things that we have proposed and will propost is designed to incentivize competition and not reward teams that don't want to compete.

00:21:10
Speaker 4: I have to ask this question man for Rob, I might call Rob because we took on the phone and he told me to call him Rob. So Rob said that there should be a deadline for signing free agents. Why why does there have to be a deadline so you can put all the pressure on the players to make them not want to Oh gosh, February first is the deadline and the team just sit back and wait, and then there's a feeding frenzy on Oh I got to take this job for less money in this job, right, So why would we ever want as players a deadline on a signing for a free agency. It seems like a counterintuitive to me if you're a player.

00:21:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, so that's an issue that's come up. And we've heard this from the league and they've said it publicly. They've said, Oh, wouldn't it be great, you know, the winter meetings would be really exciting, And look how exciting. It is in the cap sports. I mean, you know, in the cap sports it's a game of musical chairs, and yes, teams, you know, only certain teams have room, and it gives them a lot of leverage. To the extent this has come up in bargaining. You know, we've talked to our players, we've talked to agents to say, hey, how do you think this would actually work, you know, in practice, And what we've heard, I'm going to say unanimously is that that would give more leverage to the clubs than to the players. Just like you're saying, yes, our free agent system drags, you know, drags along. Yes, there are players that you know have to have to wait until late in the game to get contracts. But again it's been pretty unanimous, you know, when we talk to agents, for example, that having a free agent deadline would not be would not be good for players. Now, there are other ways you could try and incentivize early signings. You could offer a team that signs during the winter meetings, you know, a compensatory draft pick or something like that competitive balance pick. There are things that you can do. But again, the league so far has been focused on a free agent deadline. Which we don't think is in the interests of players, and nor does anybody else on our side.

00:23:06
Speaker 2: So, Bruce question on competitive I would say actions by both sides to just help drop interest. Actually on the trade front, this one I think is important to me. Has the union stance been that trading draft picks would be good for the game? And if so, I believe that MLB hasn't been on board. But obviously you're a better source for this. But what do you know on that front?

00:23:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I think consistently this union I can only go back to when I started in twenty eighteen, although I'm familiar with some things that came before that. I think this Union has consistently been in favor of teams being able to trade draft picks Rule four draft picks, and the reason is because we actually think it would help competition. We think it would help, you know, the small market teams that have those those valuable draft picks, and they should have the flexibility to trade them if it's in the best interest of the team. I think many teams would probably agree, But the league, for whatever reason, has to date, been against allowing clubs the ability to trade Rule four draft picks. We proposed the last time it was rejected. You know, I don't want to say commit to much in the next round of bargaining, but I feel pretty confident that we would propose that again because again we think it's actually beneficial to competitive balance.

00:24:38
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00:24:47
Speaker 1: James Would.

00:24:47
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00:24:58
Speaker 3: Scott.

00:24:58
Speaker 4: I'm going to hold on to because after he continues to hit big homers and put up the stats make All Star teams, it's going to get more expensive for someone to buy.

00:25:06
Speaker 3: For me, this is his.

00:25:07
Speaker 2: First full season in the majors. Keep that in mind. I think he's underrated. He's on a Nationals team that's may getting enough attention.

00:25:15
Speaker 3: He might underrated.

00:25:16
Speaker 4: When he makes the All Star team this year, They're not going to be underrated.

00:25:19
Speaker 2: That helps he's been intentionally walked four times in a game. Anyway, if you want to try and find a wood rookie card, go check out slab packs on Arena Club and right now you can get twenty percent off your first slab pack. Or if you just want to go with a card purchase, go to Arena club dot com. Slash foul, use code foul. If you buy, sell, trade, collect, go for it bers And you mentioned earlier in our conversation how owners can't talk to someone like you they'll get in trouble, which I think is hilarious.

00:25:45
Speaker 1: By the way, that's what That's what they That's what they told me. That's what I was told.

00:25:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think that's funny and it does make sense. Hey, if you haven't had a conversation with someone, then that would probably line it up. Since you've been obviously at many big MLB events. So my question is do you think there's a lot of dissension among the ownership side when they meet and they try and come up with what they're going to throw your way? You know, often I've heard that there's a ton of dissension and then everything has to result in a thirty to zero vote so that when you come out publicly or like, see, we were all on the same side on every single thing. So do you feel like there's dissension on things like even the lottery, which I thought was an awesome addition and can prevent teams from tanking or at least punish them if they're just getting number one picks year after year.

00:26:34
Speaker 1: I want to speculate about what goes on in their meetings. I wish I knew. I wish I had a source for that, but I don't. But I think it's no secret that you know there are I mean, I'm sure there are divisions among their owners, whether that's along economic lines or other lines, and I think we all know that there are. And hey, look our players. I mean, you know, we have twelve hundred major leaguers and five thousand minor leaguers and of course you know you're going to get people disagreeing and that's and that's healthy, and we encourage that from our players. So again, I don't doubt that that takes place. I do believe that it requires a three quarters vote on their side to approve any collective bargaining agreement. So I think if you just do the math that means that relatively small number of teams can can hold up an agreement, and you know that dynamic, you know, probably plays itself out. Excuse me from time to time, but yeah, I you know, I've probably heard some of the same things you have. But again, without you know, first same information, I don't really want to speculate about their their internal conversations. I mean, again, we have had I alluded to this before. I mean we have had recently, you know, some owners coming out publicly and speaking in favor of a salary cap, which is I think a new thing at least in you know, I can't go back in ninety four, but at least recently. I haven't seen that before. There was an article recently that staid one owner one would like to see not just a salary cap for player salaries, but for coaches salaries and scouting salaries and technology spend so that you know, clubs can't outcompete each other. I thought that was interesting, So I think you are seeing more of that. But but otherwise, you know, I want to really speculate.

00:28:18
Speaker 4: Okay, by the way, you want to know how to find out what they're talking about. Just hire X owners right, like guys that just sold the team, just bring them in. The commission is doing that with players, so then they get to hear what you know, all the players are saying, So I want to just hire some X owners on the players associations, I say, hey, with lost negotiations, we talked about X, Y Z, and then you have all the answers, Bruce, seems like a simple solution.

00:28:39
Speaker 1: We can talk about that offline.

00:28:43
Speaker 2: It sounds like there's some stories there good luck breaking, but that's good guys pleasure.

00:28:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, one more for you just fans.

00:28:56
Speaker 2: Obviously, you know, some of this stuff gets really granular, and fans are just like, hey, I want to watch baseball. So are you concerned when you hear the commissioner and owners talk about how it's almost a guarantee that we're going to have some type of lockout. I know Tony Clark, your colleague has mentioned this before. The stance is, why the heck would you want to stop the sport, even in the off season, for any period of time, right?

00:29:23
Speaker 1: Ye, I mean, look, it's it's it's it's up to the owners whether to do a lockout or not. They they did it last time and I've seen the comments that suggests that they're definitely going to do it this time. It doesn't surprise me, but it does suggest that, you know, maybe maybe, I mean, what are we doing then for the months before that when we're supposedly bargaining in good faith? If a lockout is a short thing, I mean to be clear, a lockout is a weapon. So a weapon that management uses in the labor dispute is their decision to lock the doors, close, close the camps last time, as you remain members in the lockout, they took all the players pictures off the website and so that they're not promoting the game. It's it's a bad thing for the games, the bad thing for fans. It's a bad thing obviously for players and their families. You know, you hope and expect that both sites come in ready to negotiate in good faith with no preconceived notions. But you know, the reality is is that a lockout is their main economic weapon, and so certainly certainly we'll be prepared for that if that's how it goes.

00:30:33
Speaker 3: All rights.

00:30:34
Speaker 4: Last thing, I'm a baseball fan obviously grew up played baseball. Well, I love watching baseball, love talking about baseball. Give us some give us some hope, though, Please give us some hope that there won't be a lockout, and give us you know, I know you're if I ask you, you're not going to give me a percentage because you don't negotiate like that. But give me some hope on why there won't be a lockout and how we can get this done, because this is the first This is honestly the first negotiation I can remember. And I was there in ninety four when the strike. I got drafted that year. My first spring training was replacement players and all that whole mess. And then I was there in two thousand and two and we had different buses, one going to the field, one going to the airport in case there was a strike, and then we settled at the deadline. And obviously I missed the one a few years back when the lockout happened and all that. But I've been through all this before. I've been in negotiating offices in Chicago with Jerry Reinsdorf sitting across from me, and we had a bunch of players and they brought in their people and we sat there for hours before a game and talked but give me some hope as to why this one happened, because this is the first negotiation I can remember where everybody is saying, Oh, there's going to be this, there's gonna be this, It's going to be awful.

00:31:40
Speaker 3: Why does it have to be awful? Why can't we just get along?

00:31:45
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean, look, as they said, a lockout of something they do, it's not something we do. You know. The only thing I could say to try and try and address that with you or any fans is we don't want to work, suth, we don't want to miss games. In fact, what's interesting people seem to not realize this, Baseball since the ninety four strike has not missed a single game and has had far fewer work stoppages than the other sports. In fact, one of the things that find educate players on is, you know, the salary cap actually guarantees more lockouts, more work stoppages, more miss games, because the history in the cap sports is once they get you in that system, the owners just keep locking the players out to get the players percentage down. There were four lockouts in the NBA since nineteen ninety four, two of which miss significant parts of the season. Right, So you know, I look as I always have hope, as you say, you know, I think we've got reasonable people on both sides, hopefully. I don't think it's in the economic interest of the owners or the game to shut down the game. They're making lots of money. I keep seeing, you know, just today I saw something record record ratings, you know, record attendants. They're making money, franchise values going up, so there's no reason why it has to happen. We will be there whenever the other side is ready to negotiate, and we will be there with creativity, and we will be there doing everything we can to try and kind of avoid That is really the best I can say.

00:33:19
Speaker 2: Well, Bruce, thank you for joining us. Really appreciate the extended time. This was super helpful. And you know, we get these fan questions all the time, so it's great to have someone on the inside of these conversations.

00:33:29
Speaker 1: Scott.

00:33:30
Speaker 4: But Scott cap sports. They never have lockouts and they never have strikes. Oh wait, they have way more because it's so much easier than for the owners to ask for more. The hockey players gave back twenty five percent one year. They gave back twenty five percent of their guaranteed salaries. This is why it's so important, Bruce, for to have you on and to get both sides of this, because so many times out there we just hear from Rob and we never get to hear the players side.

00:33:53
Speaker 3: So thank you. I have so many more questions, guys. We can talk for hours next time.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: Next time, Bruce, will you come back at some point when.

00:34:00
Speaker 3: This heats up.

00:34:02
Speaker 1: I have to check with my boss, but I don't see why not.

00:34:05
Speaker 2: Okay, awesome, thanks again, Bruce, really appreciate the time. Thank you, guys, And yes, great point there. Aj Also, by the way, for people that are going to watch us later on and be like, oh, it's players that are on the show, Yeah, you're right. It is players that are on the show who asked Rob Manfred directly to join us, and the invitation is open. I know someone from the league is definitely watching right now. We would absolutely love to have Rob join us on the show. The invitation is more than open. Or anybody that's involved in those negotiations, we would love to have you on and ask the same damn questions. So there's not a narrative here, there's an opinion for sure. For example, someone Steven in the chat or who is it Michael in the chat? So they're very curious to hear someone like Kratz's opinion, since skrats you weren't getting these massive contracts, And do you think Manfred has a point? Oh, we're costing you, costing yourself so much money. You guys could make so much more.

00:35:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I can't. Okay, So this is negotiations between two sides. I can't trust somebody who was the one that took that money away. You could have easily if if you're if you're pandering, because I think Rob's pandering to type of player like me. The eighty five percent of players who don't ever reach free agency don't ever make multi millions of dollars. If that was the case, if you could have gotten me more money, why would I want to listen to you, Because you could have. You could have given it to us, You could have made it more economical for us, because that, in my opinion, would have grown the game. Pandering to the people that you didn't pay and then say, hey, you know what, come on over and I would have gotten you paid more. No, I'm not gonna trust like what. No, I'm not gonna trust you. I can't. I can't, And they have to come at it a different way. They have to come at it in a sense of I'm gonna help you guys make the game more competitive. I'm going to help you guys be paid more equally. And we're also going to show you that the other teams that don't try to compete, that don't go and get free agents that are available, not the big time, not the seven hundred million dollar players, but the other guys. Then I might start listening. Then I might start because that's all I was in the game for, was competing.

00:36:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kratz, I promise you this. From the other set, they don't give a crap. They've got one goal. Get as much of the.

00:36:30
Speaker 3: Pot as possible.

00:36:31
Speaker 2: That is the goal. I promise you that. To a t A couple other quick questions we'll get to maybe later on in another one of the breaks. Does abs need to be agreed upon by MLBPA, I don't know. It doesn't.

00:36:42
Speaker 3: There's just a committee.

00:36:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, so good question.

00:36:45
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter. If you notice in the rules committee there's five owner side four players, so.

00:36:49
Speaker 3: It automatically goes through the older one.

00:36:51
Speaker 4: Anyways, it's not even a fair comite,