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The best player in baseball has added his voice to the chorus of players pinning the blame on MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred for the first two series of the regular season being canceled.
A day after the league-instituted deadline came and went without a new collective bargaining agreement, Mike Trout voiced his frustration through social media.
“I want to play, I love our game, but I know we need to get this CBA right,” the three-time MVP tweeted on Wednesday.
“Instead of bargaining in good faith — MLB locked us out.
“Instead of negotiating a fair deal — Rob canceled games.
“Players stand together. For our game, for our fans, and for every player who comes after us. We owe it to the next generation.”
When the old CBA expired at midnight on Dec. 2, Manfred and the owners decided to lock out the players before going six weeks without making a new offer.
The league and the MLB Players Association then met for nine straight days in Jupiter, Fla., over the past week-plus and appeared to finally be making some progress until talks stalled again on Tuesday. Before its 5 p.m. deadline, MLB made its “best and final” offer, which the union quickly declined.
It remains to be seen how many more games get canceled before the two sides agree on a new CBA — Manfred said the next bargaining session wouldn’t happen until Thursday at the earliest — but Trout and his fellow players have made it clear they are willing to stick together as long it takes to get the deal they feel they deserve.
The normally reserved Trout previously entered the crosshairs with Manfred in 2018, when the commissioner indicated the Angels outfielder would be an even bigger star if he put more effort into marketing himself — touching on one of baseball’s hot-button issues about its best players not being marketed well enough. Trout later issued a statement saying he was “not a petty guy” and that “everything is cool between the Commissioner and myself.”
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