CC Sabathia takes aim at players in scathing MLB lockout commentary

Former Cleveland Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia isn’t that far removed from being a player, but the future Hall of Fame had some pretty harsh remarks for the union and their handling of the MLB lockout.

There’s plenty to gripe about with this latest work stoppage, but Sabathia, in particularly, is salty about how the union is trying to make good for the perceived bad deal they made with owners the last time the collective bargaining agreement was negotiated.

With the players trying to use this CBA to catch up economically, the Tribes former first-round pick believes the game will suffer.

Sabathia made the comments on his podcast, R2C2. Needless to say, he probably won’t be asked to rep the union anytime soon, via WFAN.

"“This is a time to make some changes fundamentally to the game,” Sabathia said. “But the thing is that player are like most baseball ‘purists,’ they don’t wan’t the game changed. Some of these guys still want a DH in the National League and all this different s*** like no pitch clock. Bro, have you been watching the f——- games we’ve been watching?”"

Sabathia continued.

"“Everybody complains about the lack of action in the sport, how long the games are and all of this s–t, and then when you propose different rules, everybody’s like ‘Aw, we can’t change baseball.’ F– that, the NBA changes all the time, the NFL changes all the f——time. Let it f—— go. The sport needs to get better and needs to grow, and we need to make some big-time changes. This is 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—— dumb.”"

More MLB lockout gripes

1. The National Pastime is handing down other traditions, like explaining to kids why there won’t be baseball. I got the talk in 1994, and now, I got to tell my kids why there won’t be an Opening Day to attend come March 31.

2. They asked “Why,” and the question warrants a classic Dad facepalm, because how the heck do you explain the economic battles of the game to elementary aged children without being tuned out in half a second? “Billionaires vs the millionaires” is the boilerplate answers I give.

3. My kids like baseball, lately because their Dad is a fan, however, be warned MLB. While I’ll come back after strikes and lockouts, today’s youth has so many other options. They’re not going to wait for your nonsense.

4. Speaking of the billionaires–remember when everyone cried poor during the COVID shortened 2020 season? Now, the owners are willingly giving up games. With the world still in a pandemic, while war abroad dominates the headlines, you could imagine worse optics. It’s like these people go out of their way to be hated.

5. Hall of Fame writer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News says the owners can keep the locks on the gate for the first month of the season. After that, they’ll have to get serious because TV contracts usually ask for 140 games. Once the owners cross that threshold, money starts being deducted.

McCoy wrote that owners really aren’t missing out on all that much revenue, as April usually draws sparse crowds and concession receipts are never that high.