As Major League Baseball remains in a blackout following commissioner Rob Manfred implementing a lockout last week, players and owners will hope to resolve their numerous issues before losing games next season.
Mets reliever Trevor May joined Tiki and Tierney on Tuesday to discuss the league’s first work stoppage in nearly two decades, and what the players’ hopes will be when discussions resume between the Players Association and the owners.
“Team control over baseball players is twice as long as any sport,” May said. “That’s always gonna be kind of a starting point when you start having conversations, and if that needs to be adjusted or not. That is generally, in a very general sense, asking if that still works very well, and I don’t think we agree in a lot of ways if it does or not.”
The players are seeking to reach free agency after five years of service time rather than the current six, offering players a chance to maximize on their value as long as teams are willing to spend. With no salary cap, teams like the Rangers were able to splurge on Marcus Semien and Corey Seager for nearly half a billion dollars, though many other teams have begun to use the luxury tax threshold as a soft salary cap, a point of contention with the players. But May said he wouldn’t be completely opposed to an actual salary cap, as long as it was for the right reasons.
“Not with six years of control, we don’t,” May said. “It depends on how that solves other problems…nothing should be thrown out the window as in ‘that can never happen,’ but at the end of the day, it has to make sense. I think historically, not just now, that it hasn’t happened because it hasn’t made sense.”
Despite being seemingly far apart on multiple issues, May remains hopeful that an agreement will be made before the lockout impacts the 2022 season.
“We both want to play at the end of the day,” May said. “That has always been true, that will never go away. If this is the way we have to have the conversation, let’s do this. But let’s do it in a way where we keep the spirit of ‘at the end of the day, playing baseball is the goal.’ I think there’s a path. There has to be…in my opinion, it’s healthy long term to do these things and make these changes and have these hard conversations.”
Once baseball does resume, the Mets will have a new manager, whether it be Buck Showalter, Brad Ausmus, or another candidate. Asked if May has a preference, the reliever said he just wants to see cohesion in the dugout, which is more important to him than the name or pedigree of whoever is tabbed to replace Luis Rojas.
“For the people that make those decisions, I think it comes down to having a clear idea of what our philosophy is going to be moving forward to prevent runs and score runs,” May said. “It’s less about the name of somebody and their experience, and it’s more about working with the group of people.”
Listen to May’s full interview with Tiki and Tierney below!
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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