Rozner: MLB sprinting toward the abyss once again

Major League Baseball could foul up a one-car parade.

And it has done so once again.

Experts often mistake MLB for baseball itself - and they are two very different things.

See, there's nothing wrong with the game. The game is great. It's as beautiful as it has ever been, even with the ridiculous MLB rules changes designed to save 60 seconds a game.

No, it's not the game. Baseball is great. It's the people involved that have displayed a repeated ability to ruin a wonderful sport.

The Commissioner of the Owners, Rob Manfred, is a disaster. Has been from the moment he took over from The Steroids Commissioner - Bud Selig - another disaster who collected more than $200 million and then pretended he never heard of PEDs while being ushered into the Hall of Fame.

The owners have traditionally been splintered and their hopes in cinders after accomplishing nothing through work stoppage after work stoppage, but this time it's not the owners alone conspiring to sprint toward a labor cliff.

In a game of chicken, driven by egos and those trying to show who's got the biggest bat, players union chief Tony Clark has been played by the agents now running the show after losing confidence in Clark.

These past weeks, there was little reason to fight with the owners over a matter of a few games - or conceding some salary - when the owners were giving the players plenty in concessions. For as bad as the owners always look, this time the players share the burden.

Tweeted Trevor Bauer after the players union rejected the owners' final offer, "In no way am I speaking on behalf of any other players or the union as a whole, (but) I believe there is a deal to be had here that is beneficial for everyone involved and I'm honestly not sure what the holdup is."

Added Bauer, "Fans want baseball. The vast majority of players want baseball. Most owners want baseball. Seems like everyone is in agreement yet we have no agreement and no baseball. How?"

That left the owners to unilaterally impose a schedule, and speaking for all reasonable people, Bauer tweeted, "It's absolute death for this industry to keep acting as it has been ... How is this good for anyone involved? COVID-19 already presented a lose-lose-lose situation and we've somehow found a way to make it worse. Incredible."

To be clear, Bauer was not taking sides against his fellow players, but merely expressing general frustration.

While the agents had their high-profile clients on social media embarrassing themselves with the "when and where" hashtag, which was transparent and humiliating, the owners gave them the "when and where" and they refused to take "yes" for an answer.

The punchline that is "when and where" is going to follow the players and their wealthy agents for a very, very long time.

In stark contrast to all the other sports in which the players are working with commissioners in hopes of simply getting sports back in action, putting aside rancor or past perceived slights to get something happening quickly, the MLBPA took this moment to take a stand and offer hints that they will want serious givebacks when the CBA expires after the 2021 season.

In the past, it was the players holding firm and never giving back, but with all the union has done to give the owners - in essence - a salary cap, the agents are screaming collusion instead of pointing the finger where it belongs.

The guess here is the players will threaten a work stoppage next season in an attempt to use their leverage before the current agreement expires, a gambit that worked well in 2002 and failed in 1994.

What's certain is that fans have lost patience with this nonsense at a time when everyone is desperate to watch live sports and so many people have suffered a significant loss of income and tens of millions have lost their jobs.

It is at best tone deaf to be so cavalier with a baseball season when there is so very little of it to play in 2020.

Wrote Bauer on Twitter, "If there's going to be a fight, the time for that fight is after the '21 season when a new CBA is negotiated ... We're doing irreparable damage to our industry right now over rules that last AT MOST 16 months. (What) kind of sense does that make?"

Of course, he's right. The players botched this one badly and when they file a grievance over owner-imposed injury, it will fall on deaf ears.

The players have always been in the right during these labor battles as the owners have begged the players to fix the problems owners have with each other over the way they spend - or don't spend - their money.

This is the rare case where the players should have been more reasonable and done what was necessary to get back on the field as fast as possible. The public bickering has only served to remind the paying customers of all they hated about previous work stoppages.

It has even the most ardent supporters of the game wishing a plague on both houses, and suggesting they wouldn't return now to the stands even if they were allowed.

Congratulations baseball, you have managed to take people's minds off their troubles only long enough to remember how much they once hated MLB for canceling the World Series.

Well done.