Former baseball player and current commenter, Alex Rodriguez takes to the airwaves to express thoughts on the current state of the game.
Alex Rodriguez has not appeared in a major league baseball game since early August of 2016. He has never been an owner of a major league baseball team (though he did have an early interest in acquiring the current New York Mets team). Yet, Rodriguez was very confident in expressing the opinion both sides needed to find a solution, for the benefit of the fans.
Problem is, this is a really easy stance to take when he does not have an interest in either side of the bargaining table. In the forty-seven second analysis of the situation which was posted to his Twitter account, Rodriguez sifts through several objectives.
It’s time for owners and players to step up to the plate ... together.
— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) May 16, 2020
This is a huge opportunity for the game of baseball to take a huge leap forward and show leadership. We are in unprecedented times. pic.twitter.com/F8iMqTVyby
Fans are striving for normal and this time of year normal means baseball is being played in ballparks all around America. Rodriguez is correct in people are starving for baseball, though calling for a fifty/fifty split on revenue sharing is not so easily cut and dried as he says.
Several players have already voiced their opinions on having to take pay cuts if a season was to be played with a limited number of games.
Manfred has gone on record saying owners would lose $4B if the season was to be canceled. Not only is this about money, player’s safety is at the forefront. How can one use health as a bargaining chip?
Why did Rodriguez reference the strike of 1994? That was a strike about money, no? This is a strike about money, with health undertones right?
I’ve watched this video time and time again and I don’t see any relevant information here which will help the owners and players come to an agreement. He is encouraging them to find a solution, though aren’t we all? Every tweet I see that says “I miss baseball”, encourages a solution. Most just don’t hold the weight as a tweet from Alex Rodriguez.
He has the platform to offer more confounding advice than what he did.
In what order do players and owners alike rank the following categories: fiscal responsibility, health, doing it for the fans?
It’s easy for A-Rod to voice these opinions at this point in his career. He is not risking his health to earn a paycheck and he is not potentially losing millions if not billions of dollars if a season is not played.
If he were still playing would he come out with this statement? There is a reason no current baseball player has. The union is tight-knit and players support players. Bryce Harper was quick to back Blake Snell and his comments. Making a comment about ongoing negations from a player’s standpoint would cause potential loss of leverage or fear of being ostracized by others.
I too want a solution to this issue. I too want to get baseball back on the field as fast as possible. I don’t see how Alex Rodriguez’s comments helped this happen any sooner. Time to sit back and wait for a response from Paul Lo Duca.