Pirates Again Lose in New CBA Deal
By J.T.
 MLB has struck a new CBA deal this past Thursday after a 99-day lockout. Both sides gave in to some demands and they were able to meet at a spot that both sides felt comfortable. For teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, and Miami Marlins (to name a few) nothing was done to even the playing field. In early 2021 there was talks about trying to make a salary floor for teams to spend (100 million) and a salary cap ceiling that would have more teams paying a tax fine that would be dispersed throughout the teams. If anything, a cap floor would at least force a team like the Pirates to spend some money. Signing Bryan Reynolds and Ke’Bryan Hayes would be a part of raising the salary up to the floor minimum. The sad thing is though, the Yankees and Dodgers don’t want this to happen, and even sadder is the Nutting’s of the world don’t want to have to spend this money. I am by no means an expert on how these talks went down, but nothing has changed to help the weak teams. The Pirates can still spend 30 million while the Dodgers spend 250 million. I also don’t understand why the players wouldn’t want a cap floor of 90-100 million per team. This labor deal is for 5 years and if anything has made things worse for the Pirates. The minimum salary for players went up from $570,000 to $700,000 meaning the Pirates payroll could expand 2.5-3.0 million just based on this. The CBA now also calls for a draft lottery so the worst team in the league is not guaranteed the first pick of the draft anymore. With no reason to spend more money Bob Nutting was one of the 30 owners who voted yes to this CBA. With the CBA over in 2026 I am afraid that baseball may be on it’s last leg by then. Kids in the US are not playing baseball like they once were, and I know for a fact that cities like Pittsburgh are losing the young ballplayers at a record pace. So, buckle up for another several years of the same embarrassment.