no baseball strike?

[MPLABBE]

According to www.foxsports.com the strike will not happen and they will announce a deal at mid morning.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

It might be good for the sport that a deal is being reached, but quite honestly I was hoping it would happen.

Baseball is out of control. Firstly, they have no leadership whatsoever in Bud Selig. He took league monies and gave it to Jeff Loria to complete a deal to by the Marlins. I don't know if that's ever happened before in pro sports. Using league money as a loan to a friend in order to complete the transaction.

Secondly, a league "co-operative" takes over the Expos. This allows Loria to skip off to Florida with no outstanding debts except to his friend and league commissioner, Selig.

Thirdly, I can't see how the outlandish salaries are going to stop. Baseball teams continue to claim loses, while the owners continue to rake in cash.

Too bad, Marc. I say "let 'em go" ... the longer the better ... millionaires and billionaires wanting more. And at our expense. Cheers.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

I heard, as you probably did Marc, the strike has been averted. One really good thing is that the Expos will be around at least until the end of the 2006 season.

espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0830/1425017.html

Here's some of what Jason Stark wrote. It's a direct cut and paste.

Some Deal Specifics

The agreement calls for $258 million to be transferred annually from richer clubs to poorer clubs. The deal will be phased in, with 60 percent being transferred in the first year, 80 percent in the second and full implementation of the $258 million in the third and fourth years.

In an effort to avoid the chaos of this year, when the sides were working without a contract, this deal calls for a rollover of the terms on revenue sharing and the luxury tax to rollover into 2007 if a new CBA still is being negotiated.

Players agreed not to challenge any contraction moves in 2007.

The worldwide draft has been set aside for further study.

-- Jayson Stark

That $258 million annually is quite a chunk of change. However, when all but two teams claimed loses last year will it be enough? It's also hard to single out Montreal and Minnesota when so many other teams claimed fical loses.

Still, the one glowing stat is that the Expos will be around. Cheers.

[MPLABBE]

Yes, they keep on living and living and living ;D

some good points:

-Compensation for the Canadian dollar

-No contraction until 2006

-More local TV revenue distibution

Hopefully the NHL is taking some notes.

[BadCompany]

Disgruntled70sHab said:

Still, the one glowing stat is that the Expos will be around. Cheers.

Well, I don't know about that. Just means they won't be contracted - they could still be moved. MLB isn't going to want to run them forever, and I don't think any local owner is going to step up and buy them (they didn't for the Habs, why would they for the 'Spos?). So that means MLB will be looking to dump them off on the first willing taker, and I highly doubt "keeping them in Montreal" is going to be a prime consideration...

The Expos aren't out of the woods yet.

[MPLABBE]

Agreed BC but since it's almost impossible to move a team in so little time, they will play 2003 in Montreal in all likelyhood.

[Disgruntled70sHab]

BadCompany said:

Well, I don't know about that. Just means they won't be contracted - they could still be moved. MLB isn't going to want to run them forever, and I don't think any local owner is going to step up and buy them (they didn't for the Habs, why would they for the 'Spos?). So that means MLB will be looking to dump them off on the first willing taker, and I highly doubt "keeping them in Montreal" is going to be a prime consideration...

The Expos aren't out of the woods yet.

I know they're not out of the woods by any stretch. The Expos are victims of more than just an ill-managed league. However, I've still got my fingers crossed though.

Call me biased, but I think the Expos are more of a Canadian identity than the Jays. It's not that they're the senior Canadian club, but rather just the way I feel.

That aside, I think there's much more to this settlement than what we've been privy to actually. Why wouldn't they go ahead with the contraction? Is there something wrong with the process? Selig, et al, were so hell-bent on contracting the Expos and Twins that the way they presented it sounded like it was a commonplace thing to do. And now they back off? What gives? Are they hoping to avoid a court case?

I honestly feel there's much more to this settlement than what we as fans see on the surface. Maybe its a case of the league getting the message that if they went out on strike there would be no one to watch them when they returned.

All of that aside, its still a poorly run, corrupt business. As long as there's a commissioner who botches situations like the Expos, I'll remain skeptical of any deal he chaired to complete. Cheers.