TG Fantasy Baseball

NEW YORK (AP) — Locked-out Major League Baseball players are starting a $1 million fund to support workers impacted by canceled games.

The players' association said Friday the fund will be administered by the union and the AFL-CIO. It will be distributed to stadium workers and others caused financial hardship by baseball's ninth work stoppage, which was in its 93rd day.

Spring training games failed to start as scheduled on Feb. 26. Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday canceled the first two series for each team during the regular season, scheduled to start March 31.

"Many aren’t seen or heard, but they are vital to the entertainment experience of our games,” union executive board members Andrew Miller and Max Scherzer said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they will also be among those affected by the owner-imposed lockout and the cancellation of games. Through this fund, we want to let them know that they have our support.”

The union listed broadcast and concession crews, electricians, ushers, security, transportation and janitors as among those needed for MLB games.

“This fund is intended to support workers who are most affected by the MLB-imposed lockout but whose livelihoods have been disregarded by the owners in their efforts to pressure players into accepting an unfair deal,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — Locked-out Major League Baseball players are starting a $1 million fund to support workers impacted by canceled games.

The players' association said Friday the fund will be administered by the union and the AFL-CIO. It will be distributed to stadium workers and others caused financial hardship by baseball's ninth work stoppage, which was in its 92nd day.

Spring training games failed to start as scheduled on Feb. 26. Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday canceled the first two series for each team during the regular season, scheduled to start March 31.

"Many aren’t seen or heard, but they are vital to the entertainment experience of our games,” union executive board members Andrew Miller and Max Scherzer said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they will also be among those affected by the owner-imposed lockout and the cancellation of games. Through this fund, we want to let them know that they have our support.”

The union listed broadcast and concession crews, electricians, ushers, security, transportation and janitors as among those needed for MLB games.

“This fund is intended to support workers who are most affected by the MLB-imposed lockout but whose livelihoods have been disregarded by the owners in their efforts to pressure players into accepting an unfair deal,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement.

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — As Rob Manfred stood behind a podium in the left-field corner of Roger Dean Stadium and announced that opening day was canceled, a cluster of fans gathered outside the spring training home of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

They had something to say, too.

“We want baseball!” the group chanted at the MLB commissioner.

They won't get it anytime soon.

With owners and players unable to agree on a labor contract to replace the collective bargaining agreement that expired Dec. 1, Manfred followed through with his threat and canceled the first two series for each of the 30 major league teams. The announcement Tuesday cut each club’s schedule from 162 games to likely 156 at most. A total of 91 games were erased.

“We’ve seen this coming in a sense," free agent reliever Andrew Miller said. “It’s unfortunate. But this isn't new to us. This is not shocking.”

More than pure numbers are a cause of the contention. Players are seething over their allegations of service-time manipulation and Major League Baseball's increased number of rebuilding clubs, which the union calls tanking.

Issues such as the size and format of the postseason have become divisive.

“A core of this negotiation's to increase competition and there’s no way we’re leaving the table without something that does that,” Miller said. “We’re not going to do anything to sacrifice this competition of the season. Anything that points towards mediocrity, that’s the antithesis of our game and what we're about as players.”

The luxury tax may be the single most difficult issue. MLB proposed raising the tax threshold from $210 million to $220 million in each of the next three seasons, $224 million in 2025 and $230 million in 2026.

A higher...

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — As Rob Manfred stood behind a podium in the left-field corner of Roger Dean Stadium and announced that opening day was canceled, a cluster of fans gathered outside the spring training home of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals.

They had something to say, too.

“We want baseball!” the group chanted at the MLB commissioner.

They won't get it anytime soon.

With owners and players unable to agree on a labor contract to replace the collective bargaining agreement that expired Dec. 1, Manfred followed through with his threat and canceled the first two series for each of the 30 major league teams. The announcement Tuesday cut each club’s schedule from 162 games to likely 156 at most. A total of 91 games were erased.

“We’ve seen this coming in a sense," free agent reliever Andrew Miller said. “It’s unfortunate. But this isn't new to us. This is not shocking.”

More than pure numbers are a cause of the contention. Players are seething over their allegations of service-time manipulation and Major League Baseball's increased number of rebuilding clubs, which the union calls tanking.

Issues such as the size and format of the postseason have become divisive.

“A core of this negotiation's to increase competition and there’s no way we’re leaving the table without something that does that,” Miller said. “We’re not going to do anything to sacrifice this competition of the season. Anything that points towards mediocrity, that’s the antithesis of our game and what we're about as players.”

The luxury tax may be the single most difficult issue. MLB proposed raising the tax threshold from $210 million to $220 million in each of the next three seasons, $224 million in 2025 and $230 million in 2026.

A higher...

NEW YORK (AP) — Negotiators for locked-out baseball players and management met in person Monday for the first time since Dec. 1, the day before the start of the sport's first work stoppage since 1995.

Veteran reliever Andrew Miller was the only player to attend the bargaining session.

Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort, the chairman of baseball’s labor policy committee, was part of a four-man delegation from Major League Baseball, arriving at the union office shortly before 1 p.m. He was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem, executive vice president Morgan Sword and senior vice president Patrick Houlihan.

The players’ association planned to make a counteroffer to management, 11 days after clubs gave the union a proposal when the snail-paced negotiations resumed following a 42-day break.

There is dwindling time to reach an agreement in time for spring training to start as scheduled on Feb. 16.

The scheduled March 31 opening day is also increasingly threatened, given the need for players to report, go through COVID-19 protocols and have at least three weeks of workouts that include a minimal number of exhibition games.

Players don’t receive paychecks until the regular season, and owners get only a small percentage of their revenue during the offseason. Those factors create negotiations that are a game of chicken until mid-to-late February, when significant economic losses become more imminent.

Baseball’s ninth work stoppage started Dec. 2, following the expiration of a five-year labor contract.

Unhappy with a 4% drop in payrolls to 2015 levels, players have asked for significant change that includes more liberalized free agency and salary arbitration eligibility.

Management says it will not consider changes to free agency, salary arbitration or revenue sharing...

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball appeared headed to its first work stoppage in 26 years after a pair of brief negotiating sessions Tuesday led to little or no progress.

The sport's five-year collective bargaining agreement expires at 11:59 p.m. EST Wednesday, and management is expected to follow with a lockout of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

MLB executive vice president Dan Halem and Bruce Meyer, the union's senior director collective bargaining and legal, headed talks that took place at the site of the union's annual executive board meeting. Seven owners also were on hand for two sessions at the hotel, departing the first one to go to their own location after getting a proposal from the union. Dozens of players also were there.

At one point in the afternoon, Halem and Meyer broke off for a smaller meeting that included free agent pitcher Andrew Miller, a member of the union's eight-man executive subcommittee, and Dick Monfort, the Colorado Rockies CEO who chairs MLB's labor policy committee.

Players and owners met as a group for a little more than a half-hour later Tuesday.

Major League Baseball hasn’t had a work stoppage since 1994-95. More than a billion dollars worth of contracts have been agreed to in recent days as players and teams try to get deals done before a possible signing freeze that could accompany a lockout.

____

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

___

More AP MLB coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports