Wednesday Newsletter time: Spring training won't start today for Texas Rangers, but hopefully will begin sooner than later
The owners and players are moving at a snail's pace, but they know the clock is ticking on avoiding a delay to the regular season.
The sports world goes like this: Super Bowl ends, baseball begins.
It’s been that way for decades now, though the NFL keeps pushing its championship game deeper and deeper into February. Maybe they’ll overlap one of these days.
But it won’t be 2022, with MLB owners still locking out the players. Texas Rangers pitchers and catchers were supposed to go through their first workout today at the Surprise Recreation Campus in Arizona.
Instead, spring training is on hold as the owners and players move like molasses toward a new collective bargaining agreement. The players have yet to respond to the owners’ offer over the weekend.
Blame whichever side you want. They’re both culpable.
They are also now working with probably a 10-day window to get a deal done. The thought is that if camps haven’t started by March 1 the regular season could be delayed and games could be lost.
Teams can mobilize in 24-48 hours of a new CBA, commissioner Rob Manfred said. The remaining free agents will have to start late and play catch-up, and any trades stand to disrupt the flow of camps.
It’s going to be a circus.
Nevertheless, spring training is my favorite time of the year. The players are relaxed early on, the grass is really green, the bartenders know our names.
I can’t wait to get there, and I hope I’m there by March 1.
It’s post-Super Bowl, after all.
Interesting twists
The trial into the death of former Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs took some dramatic turns Tuesday in a Fort Worth courtroom, where multiple former Angels players testified that they used drugs and that Skaggs would use during games.
The players — pitchers Matt Harvey, Cam Bedrosian and Mike Morin, and first baseman C.J. Cron — were called by the prosecutors to help establish that former Angels PR man Eric Kay, who is charged with contributing to Skaggs’ death, was the players’ drug dealer.
Harvey, oh by the way, admitted that he used cocaine while with the New York Mets and continued to do so with the Angels.
The defense also called Skaggs’ wife, Carli, who said she was not aware of Skaggs’ use and that he and Kay were not friends outside of the ballpark.
While lawyers are attempting to prove Kay’s guilt or innocence, they are proving that drug use is more wide spread in baseball than baseball would ever care to admit.
It wasn’t just an Angels issue, as Harvey brought his own habits from another team. Harvey, Morin, Bedrosian and Cron have played for multiple teams since their time with the Angels.
Once this whole lockout thing is resolved, MLB needs to dive into this.
Technical errors
If it isn’t abundantly clear by now, I’m no technical expert. You all received a reminder of that Tuesday.
The initial email alert for T.R.’s Memoirs went out with some editing still to do. I’m the editor and the one who pushes the button, so it’s all on me. I massaged what needed massaging and sent out a second email with a new story, which I then deleted by mistake.
The bottom line is the story that is up now on the website is the version that should have gone out initially. It’s very good, and you can read it here.
Not a huge deal. Mistakes are made all the time. But you guys deserve an explanation.
Carry on.
Doggy video!
There were a couple good ones to choose from today, but this one made me laugh the most. Enjoy. See you Thursday.
