This week, pitchers and catchers should be reporting to camps in Arizona and Florida, and fans should be watching videos of players doing stretching exercising, and reading stories of who is in the best shape of their lives. Instead, baseball is mired in its third month of an owner lockout with a transaction freeze that has left fans in the cold.
Owners and players are at least talking, but progress has been very slow. Commissioner Rob Manfred remains a self-proclaimed optimist, telling reporters last week he believes Opening Day will still take place as scheduled.
“I believe we will have an agreement in time to play our regular schedule,” he said last week before owners issued their latest counterproposal on Saturday that reportedly left players “unimpressed.