Players React To Owners Negotiating: "They Think We're Dumb Baseball Players"

While the owners had their say yesterday—in the form of a Rob Manfred news conference—the players are using their best avenue, social media, to state their feelings after the talks broke down and games were lost. For the most part, they take issue with the "PR tactics" the owners used on Tuesday, to try to shift blame to the players. 

FANS…this man doesn’t care about any of y’all. Don’t get it twisted. The players are ready to perform, compete, and interact with all of you! However, Manfred has been ruining our game while playing puppet boy to the owners. That’s a fact. We remain ready and anxious to play! 🗣 https://t.co/M9x6LBdBlv

— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) March 1, 2022

Ahh yes. “The Union has struck a different note today.” Of course.
Just another tactic trying to control the narrative. Same thing we have already seen over and over. Nothing new here. https://t.co/UYBCQqbQM4

— James McCann (@McCannon33) March 1, 2022

This was SOOOOOO easily avoidable, so easy…..That’s what makes this even more frustrating 🙄🙄. Sad day for the sport. pic.twitter.com/AY4KeVGlWh

— Travis Shaw (@travis_shaw21) March 1, 2022

Wish MLB would use some of their PR tactics to promote the stars in our game! pic.twitter.com/Iktd7PqReh

— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) March 1, 2022

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ross Stripling, the team's union rep, particularly takes issue with the manner in which the owners tried to slip some fine print past them in a late-night counter-proposal. As Sportsnet's Shi Davidi reports, Stripling thought MLB was "underestimating" them:

It got to be like 12:30am and the fine print of their CBT proposal was stuff we had never seen before. They were trying to sneak things through us, it was like they think we're dumb baseball players and we get sleepy after midnight or something. It's like that stupid football quote, they are who we thought they were. They did exactly what we thought they would do. They pushed us to a deadline that they imposed, and then they tried to sneak some sh*t past us at that deadline and we were ready for it.

And when the players saw Manfred have a laugh during his news conference announcing that games would be canceled, it was not the least bit funny. 

Have no clue how he has the ability to laugh about anything right now. Mind is blown. pic.twitter.com/xxwHnF9cUW

— Michael Lorenzen (@Lorenzen55) March 1, 2022

To say that Manfred has produced a negative public persona—to both players and fans—would probably be a massive understatement at this point. 

But as even Stripling pointed out, Manfred doesn't exactly have a unified front to represent. 

“The owners were torn in some regards,” said Stripling. “There are some teams that really didn't want the CBT to go up. There are some owners that just weren't on the same page, so we're fighting that when they're fighting each other."

If the owners can't even agree within their own ranks, how can they get a deal done with the other side?  

And so we wait... with no agreement in sight.

Photo Credit: GREG LOVETT/THE PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK