MLB lockout: What Rob Manfred said after latest round of failed negotiations
Rob Manfred announced the cancelation of games and discussed the negotiations after the owners and players failed to reach a deal on the MLB lockout.
Rob Manfred didn’t make any new friends on Tuesday when he had to face the press and announce the results of the latest round of negotiations between the players and owners in the MLB lockout.
The gist: No new deal has been agreed upon. The lockout will continue. And games will officially be canceled.
Here’s what Manfred had to say in his opening statement…
Rob Manfred press conference: What MLB commissioner said on lockout
"“I had hoped against hope that I would not have to have this particular press conference in which I am going to cancel some regular-season games. We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. I want to assure our fans that our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party. The players came here for nine days, they worked hard, they tried to make a deal and I appreciate their effort. Our committee of club representatives committed to the process, they offered compromise and hung in passed the deadline to make sure we exhausted every possibility of reaching an agreement before the cancellation of games. So far the parties have failed to achieve their mutual goal of reaching an agreement. The unfortunate thing, maybe the most unfortunate thing, is that agreement, the one we’ve offered to our players, offered huge benefits for our fans and for our players.”"
Rob Manfred officially announces that he'll cancel regular season MLB games
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 1, 2022
"The most unfortunate thing is the agreement we've offered to our players, offered huge benefits for our fans and for our players." pic.twitter.com/UIEocOlQlx
What else did Manfred address? His comments aimed to sell fans on the owners’ proposal to the players. He also fielded questions about delays in negotiations.
Rob Manfred says both sides made an effort to get a deal done. Spending first part of his remarks talking up the owners’ proposal: “The international draft would have more fairly allocated talent amongst the clubs and reduced abuses in some international markets."
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 1, 2022
Manfred says the MLB proposal would give a “33% raise to 2/3 of the players” by increasing salaries of young players
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 1, 2022
Rob Manfred says they were willing to accept a 12-team playoff system
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 1, 2022
Manfred: "The calendar dictates that we are not going to be able to play the first two series of the regular season, and those games are officially canceled."
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) March 1, 2022
Rob Manfred said he believes MLB made the most recent offer in every area. "You draw your own conclusion as to who ought to go next."
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 1, 2022
“The concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list.” — Rob Manfred, on the day MLB canceled regular-season games, during a league-initiated lockout
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 1, 2022
The canceled games will not be made up and the players will not be paid,
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 1, 2022
Manfred says
Reporter: Why didn't you guys negotiate for the last 3 months?
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) March 1, 2022
Manfred: "Best answer is look at these 10 days and see what we did"
Season is now delayed because those 10 days weren't close to enough
.@KenDavidoff gets the walkoff question, asks if Manfred regrets not having done more at an earlier stage to avoid "disastrous" outcome given player dissatisfaction with last CBA: "That environment, someone else created. It's an environment in which it's tough to build bridges."
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) March 1, 2022
Reporter asks why real bargaining didn’t begin until three months after the lockout started
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 1, 2022
Rob Manfred literally does not answer the question pic.twitter.com/HQOSQaIQ9L
Throughout the press conference, Manfred was criticized for smiling and joking while following through on canceling games, which he previously termed a “disastrous outcome.”
Best Manfred memes from more failed negotiations. dark. Next