Since MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that the league would be canceling the first two series of the 2022 season, there's been plenty of conversation around baseball about how hostile negotiations between owners and the Player's Association have continued to be. That ripple effect is being fully felt in Spring Training towns on both sides of the country, and on Monday morning, 610's Royals Insider Josh Vernier talked about how the continued lockout has affected those who are still sticking around Surprise, AZ.
"Everything changed out here Tuesday when Manfred canceled those first few games," he said. "I mentioned it last week, about the pall over all of the Royals' training facility. And maybe I'm making too much out of this, but I even get the sense from Bobby Witt Jr. that going into that Tuesday afternoon, when Rob Manfred made that announcement, I think we were all maybe foolishly optimistic that, OK, the big leaguers are going to be here soon, I can put up with this Minor League Baseball for a little bit longer. But then when those games were canceled, it just crushed everybody. Again, observing Bobby Witt Jr. as long as I have, you saw him performing at a very high level, but when Manfred canceled those games, you could see it even brought him down. Because he was anticipating finally being in that big league camp and competing for a chance to put on that Royals uniform Opening Day. And then that was ripped away. So it's just all very strange out here."
You can listen to Vernier's entire interview in the player below: