Continuing with our All-Star break tradition of answering questions from the Patreon Request Line, our friend Olssox asks:
With Reinsdorf not being a fan of the MLBPA, and the current CBA expiring in the middle of White Sox next window of potential greatness, is it possible that he would be less inclined to spend on long term free agents in the two upcoming off-seasons? After all, he more than most would know if there's a strike coming.
I can't really tell one way or another, and I don't know if there's a way of knowing, because not signing big-ticket free agents would be completely in line with the rest of his history, even during peacetime. Based on his stance regarding free agents and the fact that Jose Abreu's $68 million is the most the White Sox have ever guaranteed, I just don't think Jerry Reinsdorf likes setting the market on free agents, period.
Coincidentally, the All-Star Game provided both sides -- Commissioner Rob Manfred, MLBPA leaders and members -- to offer their views on how things stand, and the only thing that's encouraging is that they're starting to stake their sides in July of 2019 instead of July of 2021. It seems like they're going to need as much time as possible to find a working model.
Evan Drellich of The Athletic painted a picture of two sides that regard each other with mutual disdain, and a players union that doesn't trust the league. Manfred said he's waiting for the union to offer solid proposals, which might be true -- Tony Clark hasn't been an effective leader -- but it's also hard to take Manfred at his word when he spent a lot of the last two years lying about the baseball, and some of the All-Star break sending guys to scold Justin Verlander for speaking up about how poorly the league is managing quality control at a company it owns.
It seems like the fairest outcome would be for the union to abandon the quixotic quest for huge contracts to 30-and-older players and instead focus on higher, faster trajectories for young players who are producing. If that ends up being the ground the union sets out to gain, I can see that maybe posing a problem for a team that is carrying a Bryce Harper-style contract, but I don't think Lorenzo Cain-style contracts are going to be seen as incompatible.
The big question is whether Reinsdorf would have the appetite for another labor war if it threatens a franchise renaissance. His history says "oh, without a doubt," but he's largely stayed out of the public eye since losing the attempt to prevent the ascension of Manfred in 2014. He now only speaks to the media about baseball when he has something nice to say about somebody, leaving us no accounting for the things, people and organizations he still despises. Here's hoping we don't get to that point, because given baseball's demographic issues, disappearing from the landscape stands to highlight who is missing it, and who isn't noticing.
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