CC Sabathia knows what it’s like for MLB players to get worked over in labor negotiations – he says the players "got our asses kicked" back in 2016 in the previous CBA talks.
But the former Yankees ace wants to see some fixing up in the MLBPA.
He says the league is represented by too many "high-end" players who may not necessarily speak for the rest of the league.
"It’s just not a lot of representation," Sabathia said on his podcast, R2C2. "It’s just a lot of the guys that are at the high end of making a lot of money are doing the talking, which is great, but I want to hear from the rest of the players and how they feel. And I think this all stems back to the CBA back in 2016 where we basically got our asses kicked, and this is where we are now."
That’s also how negotiations went down in 2016, according to Sabathia.
"As a player that was part of those last two CBAs and felt like we got our ass kicked, especially in the last one, it’s our fault that we signed off on that s—t, right? And not even trying to be funny, the last time the CBA went through, they said all the players voted on all this different stuff – it wasn’t all of us.
"We weren’t involved. It was just the executive committee. Nobody else really had any information and was like 'alright, this is how the league’s gonna run.' It’s the no-middle money, it’s all of this different s—t that that executive committee voted on. Who knows what the rest of the players feel like – we just hear from the top five, 10 guys, whatever it is."
In the latest talks before they fell through in Florida, there were conversations about changing up some roles (banning the shift and adding a pitch clock).
MLB has already implemented several different rules over the last couple of years, including a three-batter minimum for relievers, and automatically putting a runner on second base to start extra innings.
Baseball needs fixing on the field, but those talks are happening at the most inopportune time, says Sabathia.
"This is a time to make some changes fundamentally to the game. But the thing is, is that most players are baseball purists – they don’t want the game changed. Some of these guys still [don’t] want a DH in the National League and all this different s—t. No pitch clock. Like bro, have you been watching the f---in’ games that we’re watching?
"Everybody complains about the lack of action in the sport and the lack of how long the games are and all of this s—t, and then when you propose different rules, and everybody’s like oh we can’t change baseball.' F—k that. The NBA changes all the time. The NFL changes all the f---in' time. Let it f---in' go. The sport needs to get better, it needs to grow, and we need to make some big time changes. This was the time to do it, but now we’re fighting over stupid s—t that we lost in the CBA in 2016. It’s f---in' dumb."
The fact is, the two sides still remain far apart. Much more than the first two series (that have already been canceled) are in jeopardy, and lots of that has to do with how the negotiations went over five years ago, Sabathia feels.
"It’s just a disconnect between the league office and the players" Sabathia added. "For me, I think that we got to this point because we got our asses kicked in the last CBA. Now whose fault that is? That’s up for debate. But I think us as players, we’re out for a pound of flesh, and they’re out to get a win, whatever that means."