Labor problems remain, but at least they're playing
Posted: Monday September 02, 2002 7:29 PM
Joe Girardi: "People understood after the '94 strike, we couldn't afford another one." AP
By Dan George, CNNSI.com
So ... did the players and owners save baseball by reaching a new labor agreement on Friday?
No.
But neither did they shut it down. And that is something.
You can make a case (as was suggested here a couple of weeks back) that a strike would actually have benefited baseball -- if the end result was a totally new economic system, complete with NFL-type salary cap and 100 percent revenue sharing.
And don’t think it was just hard-line owners like the Padres’ John Moores who were rooting for such an overhaul. All those angry ballpark banners in the days before the settlement indicate plenty of fans had also just about had it with the status quo.
A strike, contrary to popular opinion, would not have destroyed baseball. (Judging by the TV coverage, of course, you'd have thought Armageddon was around the corner. Our favorite moment, shortly after Friday's settlement, was this announcement on CNN: Breaking News -- The Red Sox are on the bus. Priceless.) As former manager Gene Mauch noted after the 1981 strike, "Baseball and malaria keep coming back." But the game would have been bloodied like never before, and recovery would have been long and painful.
"Baseball would never have been the same if we had walked out," said Steve Kline, the Cardinals’ player representative.
Fear of change, ultimately, is why the players’ union, for the first time in 30 years, settled for something less than a complete labor victory. Some would have you believe that the players were "good guys" in this thing, that they selflessly compromised to save the game. "We’ve lost enough fans over the last seven, eight years," the Rangers’ Jeff Zimmerman said. "We can’t afford to lose any more." Well, yeah. Because then that $2.3 million average salary suddenly goes poof!
With the exception of a few small-market teams, the owners didn’t want a strike, either. If they had, Bud Selig & Co. certainly would have pressed the PR advantage they’d built against the players in recent months. But, like the players, they compromised.
The result is a contract that, while it hardly solves baseball’s myriad problems, is hopefully a step in the right direction. The owners got a luxury tax hike and greater revenue sharing, while the players got a 50 percent raise in the minimum salary, plus a promise that no teams -- i.e., jobs -- will be eliminated in the next four years.
The impact of the luxury tax on the Yankees -- its main target -- remains to be seen. George Steinbrenner will still go after superstars -- especially if he can expand the cable presence of his YES network, thus making even more money -- but the $6 million Sterling Hitchcocks may be a thing of the past.
Giving more money to the small-market teams, meanwhile, will make them more competitive only if they actually turn around and reinvest that money -- wisely -- in players. Right now, there’s nothing except public scrutiny that forces those teams to do that, largely because the players believed that to be consistent with their opposition to a hard salary cap in the new contract, they also had to veto a team minimum salary.
So we’ll see. Baseball still has lots to fix, both on the business side and in fan relations. But at least they’re playing.
And that is something.
CNNSI.com's Power Rankings
Rank
LW
Team
1
4
Oakland Athletics Just when you were ready to dismiss their winning streak because none of the first 15 victories came against a team with a winning record, they tap-dance all over the Twins. They’re for real, folks.
2
2
Atlanta Braves Here’s an edge they could have over the D’backs in the playoffs: Third starter Kevin Millwood is 15-6 with a 3.21 ERA -- and an even scarier 12-1, 2.50 since June 1.
3
1
Arizona Diamondbacks Super utility infielder Craig Counsell, so huge for them in the 2001 NLCS, may be done for the season. He has two herniated disks in his neck and will need surgery in the offseason, if not sooner.
4
3
New York Yankees He may not be the fastest guy out there, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many better base stealers than Derek Jeter. After swiping 30 in 33 tries this season, his lifetime percentage is .793.
5
5
Anaheim Angels When fans, protesting the prospect of yet another work stoppage, tossed foul balls and other things onto Edison Field last week, player rep Scott Schoeneweis said, "You'd expect the fans to have a little more class." Who says the players are out of touch?
6
6
Seattle Mariners On top of the AL West just two weeks ago, the punchless M’s are now fighting for their playoff lives. And reliever Jeff Nelson doesn’t like what he sees, saying Seattle is "playing almost like a team that's looking forward to going home in September."
7
8
Los Angeles Dodgers Yes, there are stats for almost everything. When lefty Odalis Perez homered in his own 1-0 victory last week, he became the first pitcher to accomplish the feat since Bob Welch with the Dodgers in 1983.
8
7
Minnesota Twins Wanna beat these guys? Wait for the lights to go out. The Twins have lost seven of their last eight day games and are just 20-22 in the afternoon this season.
9
9
Boston Red Sox They have a huge scheduling advantage down the stretch, playing their final 25 games against teams with losing records. Of course, being 6 ½ games behind in the AL East and 4 1/2 games back in the wild-card race, they’ll need it.
10
11
San Francisco Giants No Giant has won an NL batting title since Willie Mays in 1954, when the team still called the Polo Grounds home. But Barry Bonds, whose .370 mark leads runner-up Larry Walker by 18 points, has an excellent chance.
11
10
St. Louis Cardinals They think closer Jason Isringhausen, out the last three days with a sore shoulder, could be back in a day or two. If not, it could be one problem the resilient Cards just can’t overcome.
12
12
Houston Astros Two pitchers have won nine straight games this season. One was the D’backs’ Curt Schilling from April 23 to June 8. The other? Third-year starter Wade Miller, who hasn’t lost since June 26.
13
14
Philadelphia Phillies They’re 61-48 since starting the season 8-18. ``All I read last year, and I continue to see it, is the Phillies got off to a great start but they were [bad] the rest of the year,'' said manager Larry Bowa. ``My comment is, `Well, we got off to a [bad] start this year and we've been pretty good the rest of the year.'"
14
17
Florida Marlins Third baseman Mike Lowell and left fielder Kevin Millar were each charged with an error on Aug. 23 when a ground ball rolled first through Lowell’s legs, then through Millar’s, allowing three runs to score. Said Lowell: "They were playing circus music when they replayed it on the scoreboard. That was appropriate."
15
19
Chicago White Sox In the What Took You So Long Dept.: Since owner Jerry Reinsdorf, unable to take it anymore, ripped into the underachieving Sox during a scathing clubhouse address last Thursday, they’re 5-0.
16
15
Cincinnati Reds Starter Jose Rijo was so sure there would be a strike that he bought an airline ticket to his home in the Dominican Republic nearly two weeks before the Aug. 30 deadline. Oops.
17
13
Montreal Expos They’re now on pace to finish ahead of the Marlins in average attendance. So Florida team president David Samson -- who worked in Montreal last season -- claims the Expos are padding their numbers by counting freebies. Of course.
18
16
Baltimore Orioles Rodrigo Lopez’s Rookie of the Year hopes have taken a hit in his last two starts. He’s allowed nine earned runs over11 2/3 innings, six of those runs scoring on homers.
19
20
New York Mets If possible, the Mets’ recent 12-game losing streak was even worse than it appeared. They held a lead in just three of the 108 innings they played during that span.
20
18
Colorado Rockies Reliever Kent Mercker got right to the heart of the matter last week when told that Mets manager Bobby Valentine was unhappy about Mercker's pitch over the head of Timo Perez. "Bleep Bobby Valentine," said Mercker. "What does he know?"
21
21
Texas Rangers How bleak have things been in Arlington the last couple of seasons? The Rangers’ 15-12 record in August was their best in any month since going 17-10 in July 2000.
22
23
Toronto Blue Jays Just in case you missed that rebuilding memo, outfielder/catcher Jayson Werth is the 16th rookie the Jays have used this season. That matches a team record set in 1977.
23
22
Pittsburgh Pirates Only five teams in the last 50 years -- including this year’s Brewers -- have had 10 straight losing seasons. Five more losses and the Bucs will become No. 6.
24
24
Cleveland Indians Veteran infielder Travis Fryman, hampered by injuries the past few years, is retiring after this season. But more than one observer thinks he could eventually be back in the bigs as a manager.
25
26
San Diego Padres When reliever Doug Nickle entered Sunday’s game against the Rockies, he became the 57th player -- and the 36th pitcher -- used by the Padres this season. Both are major league records.
26
25
Chicago Cubs Bruce Kimm, who replaced Don Baylor on an interim basis earlier this season, sounds like a man who knows he won’t be rehired. "Do I want to be back? Yeah, I'd like to be back," he said. "But wherever I end up, I feel that that's where I'm supposed to be."
27
27
Kansas City Royals They expected Jeff Suppan to be a leader on the pitching staff -- just not in losing streaks. He’s dropped eight straight, and is 1-11 with a 6.11 ERA away from Kauffman Stadium this season.
28
28
Detroit Tigers How revered is broadcaster Ernie Harwell, who is retiring at the end of the season? The Indians are naming the visiting radio booth at Jacobs Field in his honor.
29
29
Milwaukee Brewers After hitting just 116 home runs in their first 133 games, they banged 10 in a three-game weekend sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati.
30
30
Tampa Bay Devil Rays Aubrey Huff, a rare bright spot in a lost season, batted .355 in August. His 44 hits were a club record for any month; only Bernie Williams, with 47, had more in the AL.
