The MLB lockout continues to drag on with the players recently rejecting a league request for a mediator to be brought in to negotiate between the parties. The work stoppage is now two months old, and no progress has been made. Seriously, what are we doing here?
The issue isn’t even the demands. We know what the players want, we know what the owners are willing to give and a basic framework for an agreement is evident. However, both sides must go through this stupid song and dance under the guise of negotiations in an attempt to save face. It’s so asinine.
Negotiations as a process make absolutely no sense. Having done a study abroad in Morocco where everything has to be haggled for, I’m speaking from experience. Let’s be real. The end goal of negotiations is to accomplish one of two things:
- Hope the other party is so clueless that they accept whatever stupid offer you put on the table.
- Annoy the other party so much that they become tired of the cumbersome process and accept a lesser offer.
In most cases, neither happens and both sides at the negotiating table waste a bunch of time reaching an agreement that everyone clearly knew was going to happen from the start. Maybe one party gets an extra concession or two, but that doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.
No fans remember or care about who emerged from the last baseball labor battle with a few minor victories. Just like I can’t remember those times when I saved one or two dirhams on some tourist trinket that fell apart weeks after buying it. It’s irrelevant in the long run.
However, unlike when you are negotiating to buy a house or haggling over some nonsense in a Middle Eastern souk, both MLB and the players are beholden to stakeholders, i.e. the fans. There is no baseball revenue without fans either attending games or watching on television.
Which makes negotiations and the MLB lockout so freaking stupid. We already know how this ends. Stop trying to save face with bullshit offers that aren’t realistic. Just reach an agreement that everyone knows will happen eventually and let pitchers and catchers report to spring training.
Or don’t, piss off fans and ruin things for the sport.
Related: The MLB lockout and what is really wrong with baseball
