Chapter 1: What recent developments are there in MLB labor discussions?
My goodness, it is gorgeous, and I do mean gorgeous Thursday here in Toronto. Perfect time to have some little baseball labor discussion, isn't it? Just kidding. It is Blair and Barker brought to you by Capital One. Capital One giving credit to over 4 million Canadians and counting. Well, technically, it's only me today.
As you see from the empty chair, Kevin is off for the next couple of days just to take care of some stuff. Nothing serious. Just to take care of some stuff. And he will be back alongside me on Monday.
Chapter 2: What does the proposed $245M hard salary cap mean for MLB teams?
The Jays are starting a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles tonight at Camden Yards. Chris Bassett. formerly of these parts, on the mound for the Orioles. Patrick Corbin for the Blue Jays. It's a 640 or 635 first pitch. And, of course, you can catch it on Sportsnet 590, the fan at Sportsnet. We have a lot to talk about.
Ahead in the show, Jim Duquette, MLB Network radio analyst and host. Former Orioles and Mets GM joins us. John Marossi of the MLB Network will be along. Chris LaRue, our Blue Jays radio analyst. He will join us. He'll be alongside Jamie Campbell for the Orioles series. So Chris LaRue joins us.
We've got tickets to give away, and Jeff Passant, MLB insider for ESPN and host of Sources, tell Jeff Passant we'll be along.
Chapter 3: How does the salary cap proposal affect the Blue Jays' payroll?
I mentioned out the gate that, and I do this as a warning to people, right? We're going to have a little bit of baseball labor talk today. Now, kind of avoided it, For most of the year. Because one. Everybody knows that the collective bargaining agreement ends. At the end of this year. Two. There's nothing you or I can do about it. I mean it is what it is. We can scream. We can throw. Whatever.
It is what it is. Things are going to take their course.
Chapter 4: What historical context is relevant to the discussion of salary caps in MLB?
But really until today. we really didn't get a lot of flesh in the bones or a lot of meat in the bones in, in terms of what the sides will be talking about. Right. We knew we'd been told that owners would propose a salary cap.
We've been told that players would, um, you know, have some sort of a, an offer that would raise the salary floor, maybe change some of the parameters around free agency, um, things of that nature. But the simple fact of the matter is there's really... All that other stuff can be discussed. Cards will be traded. All that other stuff can be discussed.
The fact that the owners, that MLB owners, have put a hard salary cap on the table for the first time since 1994, and they did that today. That is the biggest... Although it's not a surprise to anybody who's been paying attention, that is... That's the big news. You saw what happened in 1994 when the owners went for a hard salary cap.
Those of us who covered the Montreal Expos at the time will remember what happened in 1994. We lost the rest of the 1994 season and the World Series. So... That's where we are. We're going to spend time talking about it today, but only in terms of the parameters of the thing. Because again, as I said, there's nothing we can do about it. The owner's proposal today was for a $245 million hard cap.
Chapter 5: How are MLB GMs reacting to the salary cap proposal?
And of course, MLB is the only sport in North America that doesn't have a salary cap. And it's been a point of honor among the players, you know, among the players association.
It's been one of the things that Donald fear has always kind of been able to hang his hat on the fact that, you know, there hasn't been a salary cap and the fact that owners for the most part, well, since 1994, haven't even really pushed that matter seriously. So the salary cap proposal from the owners is $245.3 million.
And of course, back in the day, we'd go, doesn't matter anyhow because the Jays aren't anywhere near that. Well, the current Jays payroll for luxury tax purposes is around $280 million. That is the sixth highest in baseball. Phillies, Yankees, Braves, Mets, Dodgers, and Jays in some sort of order. So your initial thought is, okay, $245 million. The Jays are roughly $40 million over.
You're going to start breaking out in a sweat. Well, a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, it goes into effect in 2027, if this were to come about. It goes into effect in 2027. The Jays right now are under this hard cap at $216,479,000.
Chapter 6: What insights does Jim Duquette provide about the Blue Jays vs. Orioles series?
That's the good news. I mean, that's really, though, when you get down to it, we're talking about, I think, maybe 10 to 12 players in the 25-man roster. So keep that in mind. And that is the Jays right now have the fourth highest allocated payroll for 2027 under terms of their existing contract. Of course, guys are leaving, right? But that does include no Kevin Gossman, no George Springer.
That's what their contract's taken out. But here is the thing to remember because, you know, first of all, when you talk about baseball, it's just doing the raw math isn't always smart. You know, you can't sit there and say, well, this figures this, this figures this, there's a difference of this, that's not the case. That's not the case the way the accounting's done.
It's just kind of, it kind of gives you an idea of where, right, where things are in a general sense. But here's the other thing to keep in mind. This is the owner's initial proposal. And as much as I think they do want a salary cap, because they've been forecasting this, I mean, Rob Manfred's been talking about this for a long time,
as much as I think they do want a hard salary cap, this may not be the final figure.
Chapter 7: What are the prospects for underachieving AL teams this season?
This is their opening figure. This may not be the final figure. There may be some horse trading that goes into things. So what I'm saying is, Don't get wrapped up in doing the math and saying, oh, my God, they owe Vladdy this much money and they owe this guy this much money. How are they going to make it all work and what are they going to do? I mean, there are any ways around it.
You know, perhaps there's some sort of a grandfathering clause that allows a team to claim its largest, you know, its highest contract to claim it in a different category. I mean, who knows? There's any way this can be solved. But every one of the, you know, every one of the big teams in baseball, right? You look at, what did I mention?
The six highest payroll teams in baseball, Phillies, Yankees, Braves, Mets, Dodgers, and Jays. They've all got at least one player earning great gobs of money. In some cases, they've got a couple of players earning great gobs of money. So that's why I'm not...
Looking at this right now and getting in the weeds when it comes to how much money is going to have to be shed or how much money is going to have to be added, that's kind of a fool's game right now. Right now we are dealing with the outline, the parameters of this negotiation. The owners want a hard salary cap, and the players don't.
The players have responded, and there's all sorts of levels of things here. But that's the most important thing to keep in mind right now, I think. I'm not getting wrapped up in the $245 million figure. So that's the lay of the land as we sit here on May 28th. That's the lay of the land. And I'm not going to spend the entire show talking about baseball labor. Trust me.
But I wanted to at least address it at the gate, and I wanted to at least talk to our next guest, Jim Duquette, MLB Network radio host, analyst, and former Orioles and Mets general manager about this in a general sense. Jim, thanks so much for joining us. How are you, Jeff? Good to be with you again.
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Chapter 8: How does Christopher Sanchez's performance impact the current pitching landscape?
You know what? I pulled out some of the notes I kept from 1994. And I was going over them. And I am that guy. I keep all my notes. And I was going over. I love it. You know, 1994, the Expos finishing their series against the Pirates. You know, talking to guys about, well, you know, yeah, we'll probably be gone for a couple of weeks and then we'll be back.
You know, Cliff Floyd was saying, I don't know if I really want... I'll probably just hang out in Montreal because it's going to be a couple of days, maybe work out at the stadium. Anyhow, you know how that goes. All kidding aside, though, I think for baseball fans, Jim, their first... The first thing they're going to be looking at when it comes to this is what impact it has on 2026.
Because, you know, especially in the case when you're in a market where you've got a fairly substantial payroll team. Like I had people today ask me, well, does that mean the Jays aren't going to be able to do anything now? Because they're, whatever, $40 million over this figure. Does that mean they can't try to trade for Tarek Scouble if he becomes available? So can you maybe just talk about...
the mindset of, of MLB GMs this afternoon? Cause they surely they weren't blindsided by this, right? They wouldn't, they've, they've known about this for a while. What would their mindset be business as usual, or maybe pump the brakes?
No, I think that it's, for the most part, business as usual. And I've talked to a lot of the GMs recently, and as much as they'll talk about it, because they don't really talk about it overall, but even off the record, I think when it comes to the trade deadline, in terms of just
maybe acquiring free agents to be, the players that'll be free agents at the end of this year, like a Scooble, as you mentioned, or others like that, guys that might opt out at the end of the contract at the end of this year. Those type of guys, they'll be on the move.
I think where I am getting some wind of in what my maybe concern would be if you're trading for a player that has another year of control. So Let's take a player that I'm trying to think of. Freddie Peralta is a guy that's a starter who will end up becoming a free agent at the end of the year as well. But I'll give you an example locally here in Baltimore, Adley Rutschman. Okay, that's good.
I don't think he's going to be traded, but let's just say the Orioles, their season got off the rails and they decided they're going to trade him. He's a free agent at the end of 27th. You know, he's going to require somebody, a team, if you need a catcher, to give up quite a bit of talent in return.
Would you want to be giving up ā how much would you be willing to give up for the 2027 control of Adley Rutschman when there's no certainty of how many games you're going to play? Mm-hmm. Like, are you going to give up, you know, two extra prospects and we don't play the 2027 season? That doesn't make any sense.
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