DALLAS -- Tony Clark, head of Major League Baseball's Players Association, doesn't get it.
Neither does anyone at Major League Baseball itself, I might add.
Earlier this week, Clark made his annual visit to the Pirates' clubhouse in Bradenton, Fla., to meet with the players he's paid to represent. He does that with all 30 teams through spring training, committing a day to each, continuing a longstanding tradition for the union chief. And after the meeting, he'll have an audience with the reporters on hand, most of whom cover the team at hand. In each case, it's a chance to make sure his players' best interests are heard and, in turn, known.
It would appear to have been a pristine opportunity to make one hell of a statement.
Because, of all 30 teams, only one shamefully whacked its player payroll down from $91,825,061 in 2018 to the current opening-day projection of $69 million. Because, of all 30 teams, only one will spend less, and that's the virtually homeless Rays. Because, of all 30 teams, only one recently shrugged off a 98-win season by adding Ryan Vogelsong and a couple other cheap reinforcements. Because, of all 30 teams, only one is owned by Bob Nutting, who's now, with Jeffrey Loria gone from Miami, baseball's most prominent symbol for prioritizing profit over winning.
And what did Clark bring to Bradenton?
“In an industry that’s growing," he told the reporters there this week, "seeing upwards of two-thirds of the payrolls being lower than what they were last year is a concern."
That was it. Beginning and end. He first generalized the response, then punctuated it with a whimper.
And when asked about that hollow grievance the union filed 13 months ago against the Pirates, Rays, Marlins and Athletics, Clark's one-word reply was that it's "ongoing."
Is it any wonder Rob Manfred and everyone in the commissioner's office is running roughshod over Clark and the union?
Is it any wonder that Nutting and Frank Coonelly are free to profiteer as they please, without fear of repercussion?
Their only conceivable counterpart in this equation has been pathetically meek for years. The commissioner and owners can collude, conspire, keep down pay — even as this $10 billion industry continues to grow — and the worst they'll have to absorb from Clark is that he's got "a concern."
Manfred to Coonelly on the phone, probably: "Hey Frank, did you hear?"
Coonelly: "Hear what, old friend?"
Manfred: "It's Tony. He's got a 'concern.' "
Coonelly: "A 'concern?' Oh, no."
Manfred: "Yeah, a 'concern.' "
Coonelly: " ... "
Manfred: "So ... "
Coonelly: "So, how's the golf game?"
The union's stance, one that goes back to the Donald Fehr days, is that they could never accept a salary floor because, in their view, doing so would be tantamount to accepting a salary cap. It would fly in the face, they insist, of their belief that the free, open market should dictate all players' salaries.
Which is demonstrably bunk, of course. All it does is make Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and a couple dozen others unimaginably wealthy while most of the rest play on the two-thirds of teams that are cutting. Whereas, in our continent's other three major sports, a cap ensures a fairer distribution of pay and fairer competition. And because of the latter, more markets generate interest and revenue.
Saddest of all in this scenario, other than Pittsburgh having its 133-year-old franchise held hostage in this regard, is that the players buy right into it. Even Jameson Taillon, as intelligent an individual as exists anywhere in professional sports, takes the soft route in his role as the team's union rep. They all do that. It's all about the free, open market, and never mind the malfeasance they witness with their own eyes in places like Pittsburgh.
People plot fan protests and prod the media to be more vocal. None of that will ever mean a whit. The union and the players are the only ones empowered to make a difference, and they've evidently got zero interest.
• I was going to write more about baseball today. Sorry, that just sucked the mood right out.
The Pirates will be here in Texas in a couple days for those two closing exhibitions in Houston. I'll rev it back up then.
COVER STORY: @LeVeonBell is now a Jet and he's ready to explain why he sat out all of 2018 — and why it was worth it https://t.co/MsdxxxSs5m pic.twitter.com/Q6c0PJ8guC
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) March 20, 2019
• On to another unsavory subject: If I'm understanding how this cultural accountability stuff works in the NFL, the Raiders and Jets both are now plagued with cultural issues because they've now got at least one guy each spouting off relentlessly and grabbing headlines nationwide for all the wrong reasons.
That sound about right?
• At some point in an interview with Antonio Brown, when he brings up leadership, when he's the one who walked out on the only team he's ever known on a must-win Sunday, how is anything he speaks thereafter taken even remotely serious?
At some point in an interview with Le'Veon Bell, when he complains about how he was used by the Steelers, when he's also the one who complained about overuse and even threatened it as a bargaining position, how is anything he speaks thereafter taken even remotely serious?
I mean, what is wrong with the people gulping this garbage down at face value?
• Great. That just sucked the mood right out for football.
Bryan Rust scores Thursday night in Nashville, Tenn. - AP• FYI: Including the Penguins' 2-1 shootout victory last night in Nashville, they've now scored five actual goals in their past four games. Because three of those went into overtime, that’s five goals over 255 minutes, or one of every 51 minutes. And yet, they've stolen four points from those four games.
But let’s talk more about Matt Murray's shortcomings. Good Lord.
• Goals will come and go. For this team, most often, they'll come. But nothing, nothing, nothing matters more toward how this team will fare in the playoffs than their collective defending. And they've been really sound with that for quite some time now.
• Phil Kessel has now gone 25 games without a five-on-five goal. Patric Hornqvist has now gone 29. Pointing a finger at anyone else for anything that goes wrong right now seems misguided. These two players aren't optional for this team. They're critically important.
• Remember when I was advising patience on Nick Bjugstad, back when Jared McCann was the one of the two Florida guys making the fastest impression?
In the past dozen games, Bjugstad's scored four goals, registered 44 shots and, if it looked on TV as if he pretty much owned the puck in Nashville, it's because he's done that, too: His Corsi For rating over these dozen games has been 54.35, best among all mainstay forwards in that span. McCann's been at 49.68.
I promise not make a running comparison of the two. The point is primarily that Jim Rutherford's heist was twice as good as anyone could have anticipated.
• Hide the following paragraph from anyone associated with the Penguins: They're in the playoffs. There's no point pretending otherwise. The Canadiens impressively rocked the Islanders, 4-0, last night in Montreal, thus leapfrogging the Blue Jackets for the East's eighth and final spot. The Jackets lost to, uh, the Oilers, 4-1, last night in Edmonton, so they're stuck at 84 points, seven behind the Penguins. That's not going to get made up.
• Columbus should have thrown that 'all-in' parade right away, huh?
Or at least before being all-out.
• Bob Nicholson, CEO of the Oilers, illustrated yesterday in Edmonton why they remain the NHL's most laughable franchise with this statement in a face-to-face session with season-ticket holders:
Here's a transcript of Bob Nicholson's comments on Toby Rieder at this morning's STH breakfast. pic.twitter.com/jfb8mujNUB
— Bruce McCurdy (@BruceMcCurdy) March 21, 2019
Thanks to Taylor Haase for finding that. She knew it was right within multiple wheelhouses.
Not least of which is this: Get out, Connor McDavid. Those people think a fourth-liner cost your team a playoff berth. Do not walk to the nearest exit. Run.
• Toby Rieder had zero goals, zero assists in the Oilers' victory over the Blue Jackets last night. I'll be damned, they pulled it off without him.
• I was here to cover a hockey practice originally scheduled for this afternoon. Mike Sullivan thought enough of his team’s performance last night that he canceled this session right as the team’s charter landed at DFW. So, I'll just head down the street from the Stars' arena to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum for my annual visits to both of these brilliantly preserved monuments. Can't recommend strongly enough.