NO BASEBALL IN 2020? TOM GLAVINE KNOWS WHO FANS WILL BLAME

The trend continues, another former player is speaking out regarding the on-going salary struggle between owners and players. We already saw Alex Rodriguez make his attempt and it left us wondering WILL AROD'S PLEA SAVE BASEBALL? It's another day with no real progress made, and today's attempt isn't a plea....but a warning. Former Atlanta Braves legend Tom Glavine gave a warning to current players, if there is no 2020 season the players may take the blame for the missed season. You can read it HERE. We all miss baseball, hell we just miss what was once a normal life. So it got me thinking, would we as sports fans blame the players? Maybe, maybe not. Both sides need to come to the negotiating table here.

On Monday there was rumor of a supposed "ultimatum" from owners that was blowing up Twitter. Again, a rumor of an ultimatum but it's been all over news talk sports stations since then. That and I am still sitting here thinking about SHAME ON BLAKE SNELL because Blake Snell himself said that he would "prepare for 2021" so there's that. Glavine knows what Snell is going through, he is a former union representative and he was also criticized for speaking out about player rights during the 1994-1995 strike the canceled the World Series. Glavine supports Snell's issue regarding salary but he does not agree with Snell refusing to play, read more HERE. I think that is an important difference here. He supports the sentiment, he agrees the salary argument needs to be resolved but refusing to play isn't the answer. But what if it does come to that? Glavine thinks that the fans could blame the players for a lost season even if they are 100% justified.

He may have a point. There always has to be a fall guy, or so the cliché says. If we sit back and look at what is happening in the world right it might be easier to blame the players instead of the owners. I'm not saying it's right or fair but right now the owners have proposed a 50/50 split. The players have yet to come up with their own solution....hence Heyman's tweet. So does that make the players look like the bad guys? With everything going on in this pandemic right now....maybe. I don't know what to believe on the news these days but I heard today on news talk radio that as of May 14th, 36.5 MILLION Americans have filed unemployment claims. That's a scary number.

So maybe American's don't have the appetite to listen to players like Snell complain about only making about a million dollars after his pay cut and taxes. I called him TONE DEAF for that, and I think that is fair given the situation. If your hardship is ONLY making a million dollars when some people can't even make contact to file for unemployment benefits then why should anyone feel bad for Snell? So we are all holding on to some sort of hope and signs of normal life. That hope can be different things for different people but a lot of us may say it is the return of sports, maybe specifically baseball. If baseball doesn't come back and it is because players like Snell decided to dig their heels in and not compromise then Glavine could be right.

I don't think people want to assign blame to anyone. We just want to see union representatives and owners get in a room and figure out a new deal. If baseball has any chance of returning by July this needs to happen NOW. I hope the players take Glavine's words to heart....we need baseball now more than ever.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj