The 2022 Major League Baseball season won't begin on time. After nine days of in-person meetings in Florida, the league and players' union failed to agree to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) ahead of Tuesday's deadline, which means the sport is now delayed indefinitely.
During a press conference, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the cancellation of Opening Day -- scheduled for Mar. 31 -- as well as teams' first two series of the regular season. MLB's self-imposed lockout began in early December, and with both parties in a deadlock on crucial economic matters, it's unclear when a new CBA will be finalized. MLB has put the game on hold.
"Rob Manfred, we've been told, is the expert. He's great at labor negotiations, awesome behind the scenes. He doesn't do a damn thing well for the sport," Zach Gelb said during The Zach Gelb Show on Tuesday. "He stinks, he sucks. He's awful. He's the worst commissioner I've ever seen. Trust me, I don't like [Roger] Goodell, but Goodell runs circles around this clown in Rob Manfred, who's ruined MLB. He's an absolute disgrace... And he does nothing well...
"Screw him. Bleep off, Rob Manfred, and get the heck out of the sport. Get someone who actually has a damn clue and an ounce of leadership in their body. You're terrible... You didn't want to get a deal done. You've got a bunch of some cheap owners who are fine missing how many games they're going to miss. There was never a push, a desire, and some urgency shown. It was all a face, it was all a joke... MLB doesn't give a rat's ass about the fans."
Although both sides reportedly made progress in negotiations on Monday, the players' union rejected MLB's "best and final offer" on Tuesday, as the concessions were too small and insufficient. Union chief Tony Clark spoke with reporters on Tuesday, and said that players, "remain committed to the bargaining process and getting back on the field as soon as possible."
A statement released by the players' union said that Manfred's "defensive lockout" was "a culmination of a decades-long attempt by owners to break our player fraternity. As in the past, this effort will fail." The core economic issues on the table include salary arbitration, the competitive balance tax, service time, minimum salaries, and pre-arbitration bonus pool money.
Gelb's complete thoughts on Manfred and MLB's labor negotiations can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.