The MLBPA continues to be concerned about tanking. MLB offical Dan Halem, however, notes the union is not a good judge of who is or isn’t tanking:
“Last offseason, the union filed a grievance against four clubs that it claimed were not trying to win,” said MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem, citing a case against Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. “One of those clubs made the playoffs, another club won 90 games and a third club was in contention through the trade deadline. I don’t think the players’ association has any credibility on opining on how clubs will perform.”
Of course, if a lot of teams are tanking, then a few will do well just do to the random distribution of wins among evenly matched teams. At least in the case of the Atheletics and Rays, the front offices are good at identifying good, cheap talent.
The union should insist on universal free agency. Then players make their money when they are young and good, and don’t need to be worried about getting a big pay day when they are older.
Used to be called rebuilding, and was an accepted practice in baseball. In basketball, with fewer players in the game at any time, there is more of an impact. And in baseball very few college players go to the majors within a year.