Yankees’ Jameson Taillon goes scorched earth on Rob Manfred and MLB
Yankees righty Jameson Taillon is probably having a tougher lockout than most of his teammates, considering MLB has barred him from seeking counsel of team doctors as he works his way back from ankle tendon surgery.
As well as his individual rehab seems to be going, the isolation and uncertainty still seems to be weighing on him.
Taillon took to Twitter on Friday as the dead-in-the-water bargaining hit a crescendo of nothingness. So, like, an anti-crescendo. Literal opposite of a crescendo.
Ownership tried to bring a federal mediator into the discussion on Thursday, an effort denied by the players who claim the league won’t even meet them at the bargaining table, as they attempt to negotiate in good faith.
No matter what you believe about obstinacy and blame, the fact remains the league locked out the players and not the other way around. Spring Training would be in two weeks, if not for that objective fact. Opening Day would be on time, if not for that objective fact.
And Taillon wants everyone to look at MLB’s latest PR statement swearing that they want to get those events up and running and remember who actually caused the 43-day dead zone at the beginning of December.
Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon is tired of MLB’s antics.
Yup! Say what you will about “both parties being at fault,” but the league shut the door, took a month-and-a-half to reach out to its players (with a five-year head start on knowing this fight was coming), and hasn’t budged much since.
The negotiations feature both sides, but the delayed start was all MLB.
As frustration boiled, players rejected the intrusion of a federal mediator on Friday, a tactic that did not work when MLB tried to employ it during the 1994 strike, which eventually cut into the 1995 season.
In response to the latest slowdown, players from Whit Merrifield to Zack Britton to James Paxton tweeted in solidarity with a similar message, accompanied by the hashtag “#AtTheTable,” implying where MLB could find them if they ever wanted to actually get to work.
Taillon, along with Max Scherzer, went a bit off script, but attempted to convey the same message.
Whenever the season begins, Taillon will likely be joining late due to his rehab, which should knock him into May (unless … that’s when Opening Day is, in which case, cool).
The Yankees will need him at full-strength no matter who they add. Though his start wasn’t ideal, the right-hander became an extremely dependable rotation option during the summer months.
For now, Taillon and the players will continue to sit around. And now we wait. With an incomplete Yankees roster and 26 pissed-off players.