Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Finally, a voice from a front office says something.
New York Yankees president Randy Levine went on the Michael Kay Show on Monday to discuss the Major League Baseball owner-imposed lockout over the collective bargaining agreement.
“It’s embarrassing to be where we are,” Levine said.
Levine spoke on the issues the owners and players disagreed on, most importantly the Competitive Balance Tax and distribution of money. He said the CBT is “nothing to shut down the season over.”
“Forget blaming people or yelling at people or being mad at people,” Levine said. “We are where we are. We need to get this done.”
Last week, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the cancellation of the first week of games. They’re expected to announce another week of cancellations if an agreement is not made today.
The CBT is where the sides are furthest apart. The owners want a threshold that begins at $228 million and ends at $238 million. The players union wants it to begin at $238 million and end at $263 million.
“The owners are pretty united,” Levine said. “There is no divide right now. There’s disagreements. Everyone on our side needs to understand they have to compromise in order to get some and negotiate. Nobody’s ever said anything with the thresholds there’s not going to be any movement.”
Levine also spoke about the players association’s attempt to change the way money is allocated.
“If you give money from the pot to younger players, there may be less money for older players. … From a union side, they have to measure all of these various constituencies and do what’s practical.”
But there were still four owners last week who were adamant the CBT isn’t raised.
“Nobody’s crying poverty,” Levine said. “What people are just saying is we need to be appropriate and proportional in how much money is out there so it’s realistic and not unrealistic.”
As was pointed out by Travis Sawchik, if the CBT grew at the same rate as MLB revenues from 2003-2019, the base tax rate would have been $297 million in 2019 and not $206 million.
The owner-imposed lockout doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon. If only the owners had six more weeks to make a counteroffer or two.
