When Will We See Baseball Again? Will Middlebrooks Weighs In
BOSTON (CBS) -- The MLB lockout continues as owners and players remain far apart on some major issues surrounding the game. Most of those issue are, of course, financial, which makes a lot of people believe that we may be a long ways off from seeing players taking the diamond again.
The first two series of the season have already been canceled, and more games could get the axe as early as this week. But while some believe it could be well into the summer before baseball returns, former Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks thinks the return will happen much sooner. Now an analyst for CBS Sports, Middlebrooks joined Dan Roche on WBZ-TV's Sports Final on Sunday night, and said he thinks teams could be playing ball by May 1.
"I don't think owners had any interest in getting a deal done before the end of April. They can miss 25 games and not have to pay money back with these TV deals," explained Middlebrooks. "And unfortunately, April baseball isn't that great, especially up in Boston. It's a lot of teams' slowest month in revenue. They'll make that back in the expanded playoffs and not have to pay the players in April. It won't hurt teams that much. Unfortunately it's hurting the overall game of baseball right now."
Expanding the postseason seems like sure thing whenever a new deal gets done, with the argument now whether it will expand to 12 or 14 teams from the current 10-team format. While Middlebrooks would prefer the playoff field remain at 10, he knows there is no way that is going to happen.
"We're going to get a 12 [team] postseason. I think that structure makes the most sense. It adds two extra teams which means more revenue for the league. They know there is a lot of money in the playoffs and they'll get that," he said. "Players don't want the 14 teams. I think that starts messing with the integrity of the game. Letting nearly half the teams from the league into the playoffs, teams aren't going to want to spend as much on free agents because you don't have to be as good to get into the playoffs. You could be a .500 team -- maybe less depending on the year -- and get into the postseason."
The main sticking point at the moment is the Competitive Balance Tax, with players asking for somewhere between $238-262 million over the next five years while owners are coming in much lower at $220-230 million. Neither side seems willing to budge off their figures, which is why talks stalled once again over the weekend.
"This is just a soft salary cap, and players don't like that it acts as a salary cap," explained Middlebrooks. "Players and the union have fought for years to keep a salary cap out of the game. They've done well, but teams are starting to use the luxury tax threshold -- the CBT -- as a salary cap and players don't like that. They're trying to push it as far as they can to keep teams from using it and give teams a little more space to work with.
"It will make the more powerful teams more powerful but maybe the middle teams will spend a little more." he added. "This is about getting players paid and teams being more competitive."
Middlebrooks also touched on the proposed rule changes in baseball, including a pitch clock and banning the shift. Check out his thoughts on those changes in the video above, and tune in to Sports Final every Sunday night at 11:35 p.m. on WBZ-TV!
