MLB heading for a lockout? Players don’t buy owners claiming poverty

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Spring training has just begun, with opening day still a month away, but players and executives echo the phrase no one in the industry wants to hear:

Work stoppage.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement doesn’t expire until Dec. 1, 2026, with two full seasons still to be played, but you can’t stroll into a spring training camp without hearing about it.

Many team owners already are campaigning for a salary cap, blaming the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets with payrolls exceeding $300 million, convincing their fans they can’t compete with the huge payroll disparity.

Players are blaming the owners, saying that everyone should act like the Dodgers and Mets and do everything they possibly can to win a World Series championship.

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Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, hears it too, as he begins talking to all 30 teams beginning Tuesday with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Guardians.

“When the commissioner suggests openly that the expectation is a work stoppage and that a lockout is the new norm or should be considered as much,’ Clark told USA TODAY Sports, “that’s going to lend itself to some conversation even though we’re a year and a half, two years away from the expiration of the agreement.

“We’ll continue to talk about it openly too. It’ll be in an environment where the game seems to be moving forward positively, while the other side keeps interjecting negativity into the conversation. But we’ll navigate it accordingly.’

It’s perfectly clear that no matter how much rhetoric there is about a salary cap over the years, the union has never altered its stance.

“I’ll say this, the league has been interested in a salary cap for decades,’ Clark said at the union’s office before the Players Trust Playmakers Classic event Tuesday.

“And our position has been the same for decades.’

Instead of moaning and groaning about the Dodgers’ $390 million payroll, or Mets owner Steve Cohen signing Juan Soto for a record $765 million, perhaps, Clark suggests, it’s time to emulate them.

“I have a dream,’ Clark said, “that starting the year all 30 teams would be committed to be the last team standing.’

Yet, the reality is that 22 of the 30 teams have lowered payroll this season, with only five free agents receiving contracts of at least five years. While there has been nearly $3.2 billion spent in free agency, pleasing the union, eight teams have accounted for about 75% of the spending. There are 14 teams that have spent less than $45 million in an industry that generated a record $12.1 billion last year.

“It’s interesting that more questions aren’t being asked of those teams,’ Clark said of the teams that lowered their payroll. “We’re in a climate where there have been releases highlighting how well the industry is doing, and that the revenue in the industry is growing at all-time highs, and yet we’ve got two-thirds of the league that seems to be sitting on its hands.’

Clark also points out that owners claiming poverty seem to have money for other investments.

“Hypothetically speaking, it’s an interesting dynamic when a club says it doesn’t have any money,’ Clark said, “but it’s otherwise investing hundreds of millions in properties around the ballpark. And then leveraging the value it creates for the club to take more money to do more more with that property, all while running a professional ballclub. …

“I always find it fascinating when clubs talk about their finances and do so against the backdrop of an industry that’s growing as quickly as this one. That’s an interesting dynamic.’

There’s something amiss when 19 teams have spent less than the Athletics, who broke club-records in the free-agent market only because they were forced to raise their payroll as a revenue-sharing recipient. The union can file a grievance if revenue-sharing recipients don’t have a payroll of at least 150% of what they receive in assistance to improve their performance.

“It was good to see a team involved in improving itself and accessing the free agent market to do so,’ Clark said. “It will be exciting when all 30 teams are looking to be the last team standing.’

Clark is not suggesting that all teams have to spend money like the Dodgers or the Mets, but believes there’s no reason why all 30 teams can’t have the same desire to win. Money doesn’t guarantee a championship, with only four of the highest-spending teams winning the World Series in the past 25 years, but it can certainly provide hope.

“It’s amazing, when you talk to a player, he’s going to challenge whoever is assumed to be at the mountaintop,’ Clark said. “Fans are too, except they want to see their teams put themselves in the best position to challenge, and that’s simply not happening.

“It’s a concern, it has been a concern in the past, and it’s a concern now.’

Instead of calling the Dodgers the new “Evil Empire,’ perhaps they should be the model franchise for all to emulate.

Instead of complaining about the Dodgers and their $1 billion in deferred contracts, there’s no reason why other teams can’t follow suit. You don’t have to be a big-market team to defer contracts. Everyone has the right.

“We want to make sure that the clubs and the players have as much flexibility to sign they deals they want to sign,’ Clark said, “and the [clubs] to get the players that they want to sign.

“That flexibility has been there for a long time. Some clubs have been taking advantage of it. Some have not. The Dodgers have started taking advantage of it more. But there’s no reason other clubs can’t do it too.

“There’s flexibility there. It’s there for a reason despite the fact that the league has been interesting in trying to remove it.’

It’s too early for dialogue between MLB and the union for the next CBA. The two sides aren’t expected to even begin talking about minor issues until January 2026. But that day is approaching, and already it has become a burning topic.

“I try to be a glass half-full guy,’ Clark said.

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