MLBPA chief Tony Clark and his staff, which included former players in Dave Winfield, Kevin Slowey and Jose Cruz, Jr. were in the clubhouse this morning to brief the players on a variety of subjects.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners expires this year, so everyone is watching to see if the sides can hammer out a deal as easily as they have the last two times. Baseball is closing in on being a $10 billion industry. Money is being made. There are numerous reasons not to screw this up. But there are issues that have to be addressed.
One of the most-talked about issues is the draft pick compensation attached to free agents who reject qualifying offers. That has led to many free agents going into January and February still looking for jobs.
Players want to know where they are headed and teams want to have their rosters settled.
``We have heard a lot about the topic," Clark said. ``It is one of the issues we are going to look at and have looked at. On a very fundamental level, every time you have a system in place that creates a dynamic that is detrimental to a player or a club it's worthy of more conversation."
Clark said there are plenty of options that can be looked at.
The sides have been good about starting talks during spring training and wrapping things up by the end of the World Series or a little later. Let's see if this negation follows the same path
Twins v Phillies
