MLB Player’s Association Calls Out Blue Jays On Vlad Jr.

I’ve been away for a bit and things happened. They don’t understand that when I’m away things are supposed to stay status quo until I get back.

I kind of want to go through all the happenings, just to bring myself up to date if nothing else, but let’s start with the latest:

The Major League Baseball Players Association (don’t call us a union) has come out with a statement on the Blue Jays refusal to bring up Vlad Guerrero Jr.

The union’s position on service-time manipulation is clear, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and other great young talents around baseball have earned the right to play on the field for a major league team. The decision to not to bring him up is a business decision, not a baseball decision. It’s bad for the Blue Jays, it’s bad for fans, it’s bad for players and it’s bad for the industry.

Actually the union’s (look, they called themselves a union in the statement) position is hardly clear. They have allowed for service time manipulation by the way they negotiated the CBA. They were willing to trade off a bad deal for minor leaguers for a better deal for veterans. Minor league players don’t pay into the union, so their voices aren’t heard. If they were they would make more than minimum wage.

The team, of course, says that it has nothing to do with business, On MLB Radio Mark Shapiro said:

It has nothing to do with business. It has nothing to do with anything other than we think the best thing for him developmentally is to go play in Arizona and continue to develop.

We think that when he gets here — which would obviously not preclude him from making the team out of spring training next year, which would be evidence of that fact — we think he’s got a chance to be an impact player.

We’re trying to do everything we humanly can, developmentally, with an accelerated timeframe to ensure that (his) defense, his preparation, his routines, his understanding of his impact as a leader and as a teammate, all the different things that go into it, that they’re taken advantage of and we can build as strong a foundation as possible when he gets here

Yeah right.

I know he can’t say “yeah, we know it isn’t fair to the fans or to the player, but these are the rules we are playing by.” I think it would be much braver to say ‘we disagree with the rules that lead to service time manipulation, but this is the world we live in.

It’s going to interesting when, after a few days at the start of next season, he will suddenly not need to develop anymore. I don’t know how you can develop as a leader and teammate, but sure, let’s pretend that’s a thing. Players are allowed to work on their defense in the majors.

With other players, we are told they get a September call up to give them a chance to experience the Majors, get acclimated to it. Apparently, that’s a useful thing for Rowdy Tellez but not for Vlad Guerrero Jr?

Punishing players because they are exceptional is just bad for the game.

It would be nice for the team to try to build goodwill with the player who should be leading our team for the next several years.

So, Cleveland, has removed ‘Chief Wahoo’ from their uniforms for the series in Toronto. It is a nice first step.

I very much enjoyed our holiday in the Maritimes. Beautiful scenery, nice people, great food. On the flip side, very little for internet, especially in Cape Breton, cell service was spotty, many of the hotels we stayed at didn’t have Sportsnet and I had a hard time getting used to games starting (and ending) so late (when I was able to watch). I didn’t mind getting a break from the alarm clock promos.

But I had lobster almost every day, and they have several very good craft beers. And I didn’t mind getting a break from the alarm clock promos.