CC Sabathia has idea to improve MLBPA’s position (and jabs Marcus Stroman)
Through nearly 100 days of the MLB Lockout, the MLBPA continues to win the PR war, though that doesn’t mean the players have a unanimous approval rating.
There are still plenty of fans who bought Bob Nightengale’s reporting that a deal was “close” on Monday night hook, line and sinker, leading to plenty of belief in MLB’s rhetoric that they really were on the verge of restarting the season before the players’ tone changed unilaterally.
There are also plenty of folks looking at the Yankees‘ Hal Steinbrenner and the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and judging the battle as “Millionaires vs. Billionaires” — dissatisfied with everyone, but crowing about how there are “more important things in the world,” and both sides should just shake hands and end this madness.
That’s why CC Sabathia would like to hear much more from the men in the room, as well as see some different players at the forefront of these negotiations as they continue to drag on.
In essence, Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller appear to be fighting for those below them economically, but are those diverse enough voices?
And who, exactly, is the mystery committee we saw in Tony Clark’s tweeted photo after the deadline passed? Most of those players were unidentifiable, which is both an MLB marketing problem and an immediate issue as the lockout rages. Who is representing the masses?
Yankees icon CC Sabathia wants to hear from more players in the labor crisis
We certainly are hearing from the league’s richest players (though, oddly not someone like Lindor, who could shed light on a different background).
From what CC’s seen, though, where are the little guys?
Additionally, seeing more official statements from players in general could avoid the suspicion that, say, a deal was agreed to, then scuttled by Super Agent Scott Boras. That rumor has circulated a bit since Tuesday, and a nice way to quash it would be official statements from players in all ranges of the monetary spectrum.
Instead of, as CC put it, “dumb shit tweeting.”
That mini-shot at Marcus Stroman, while surely meant tongue-in-cheek, does bring up another larger point.
There are surely those watching who only learn about what’s going on in the room via Twitter. Ross Stripling’s revealing comments about MLB sneaking in strange provisions at the 11th hour, counting on the athletes to be both dumb and sleepy, really opened a lot of eyes. Stroman spamming his feed with “Manclown” and retweeting replies might not have had the same effect in the eyes of some (love you, though, Marcus).
The wider the players are able to disseminate statements like that, the better educated we’ll all be.