St. Louis Cardinals’ Wainwright says two sides of MLB lockout ‘not even close’ to a deal
Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright expressed optimism on Sunday that Major League Baseball’s lockout of its players would reach a swift resolution.
His statements came even as those around the game continued to take stock after a week in which the league and its owners failed to provide a response to the Players Association’s most recent economic proposal and as the union, in turn, declined to provide consent for the introduction of federal mediators to the process.
“I’m hopeful in the bleakest of situations, always,” Wainwright said before a fundraising event for his Big League Impact charity. “I’m hopeful because I think everybody understands that baseball is a really great thing for the communities. It’s a really great thing for America.
“There’s thousands and thousands and thousands of reasons to want to get us back out there.”
At an event designed to serve his foundation’s goal of bringing sustainable water, food and housing to impoverished communities throughout Latin America, Wainwright spoke of what he found to be the most compelling rationale for ending the lockout quickly – guaranteeing that those in support and service industries which rely on baseball aren’t faced with another summer of economic losses.
“It’s not just about the fans,” Wainwright said, echoing comments he said he read online. “It’s all about those incredible workers that are making it go. It’s about the vendors. It’s about the restaurants and shops and local businesses and small business owners all around the stadium, the parking lot attendants.
“It’s about all those people and the jobs, the big business that brings in to the community.”
It’s also, to an extent, about his own playing career and milestones which are on the horizon.
Wainwright and Yadier Molina have started together as the pitching and catching battery in 305 games, 19 shy of the record which is presently held by Detroit’s Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan.
Molina has said he intends to retire at the end of this year; Wainwright, joking that he “just [doesn’t] believe” Molina will walk away, has consistently stopped just short of making the same declaration.
“We need a full season,” he emphasized. “As long as we stay healthy, there’s no reason we can’t play to break that record and set our own record that I really feel like will never ever get broken ever again.
“We have some cool things this year, but we need a full season…you know? We need to go out there and play a full season of baseball for our fans, for our players, for our owners, for everyone. For all the vendors, for the hotel workers, for all the food workers. We need to play a full season for everybody.”
Sunday’s event was partially impacted by the lockout, as team employees are forbidden from making official contact with players as the stoppage plays out. Retired Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen, now again working with the club in player development, was originally scheduled to appear with Wainwright and sign autographs.
Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak instead informed Isringhausen that he would be unable to attend under the conditions imposed by baseball’s owners.
Jim Edmonds, an employee of Bally Sports Midwest but not the team, heard of the situation and stepped up to take Isringhausen’s place.
“Adam Wainwright’s here,” Edmonds offered by way of explanation when asked how he got wrapped up in the event. He then joked that he was retired and didn’t have to be concerned about the lockout before opining that ownership would be unable to sustain the losses associated with missed games after taking a financial hit in two consecutive pandemic-affected seasons.
Management’s intractable position, though, has left the players without a clear roadmap to proceed.
Requests for a significant increase in the league’s minimum salary and the establishment of a sizable bonus pool to steer more money to players earlier in their careers have been met far less than halfway along the road, and owners now have publicly expressed a belief that they’re unable to negotiate without outside assistance.
Asked what he would tell a fan who asked what players were fighting for, Wainwright said, “we just want a fair deal. Just want a good and fair deal. We’re not asking for crazy things.”
He went on to suggest, perhaps rhetorically, “Who knows? If they proposed the exact same deal that we have right now, we probably would go play baseball, to be honest with you.
“But that’s just not happening. That’s not even close to being happening, honestly. It’s pretty one-sided. And they’re not really willing to talk right now. That makes it tough.”
In a message to the News-Democrat on Sunday night, Wainwright added, “the owners current offer is far from a place we could start negotiations from. It would be interesting to see how fast something would be negotiated if they brought a more reasonable offer to the table to start.”
Wainwright said that he was, “not going there yet” when asked about his level of concern that the season wouldn’t start on time.
“I think both sides have good people and I’m hoping that good people from both sides get together and understand that there’s a deal to be had and to be made. We’ve worked it out for years and years and years, and hopefully we won’t miss any more baseball games,” he said.
With pitchers and catchers due to report to camps in less than 10 days, a delay to at least spring training is an inevitability. Whether a delay in the season and a shortening in the schedule follows is yet to be determined, but a return to 2021’s status quo seems impossible to imagine.
“I hope we take advantage of the situation where we get to be the only show in town for a couple of months where it’s just about baseball,” Wainwright said. “People are ready for spring training. Players are ready for spring training. Deep down, I know those owners are ready for spring training too, whether they want to admit it or not.
“So I think everyone wants to go out and play baseball, and hopefully we can get it worked out.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 9:29 AM.
