Rob Manfred makes a terrible argument for the owners position, that the player’s proposal hurts small markets:

“We already have teams in smaller markets that struggle to compete,” Manfred said at the Texas Rangers’ ballpark, not far from the hotel where negotiations broke off. “Shortening the period of time that they control players makes it even harder for them to compete. It’s also bad for fans in those markets.

“The most negative reaction we have is when a player leaves via free agency. We don’t see that, making it earlier, available earlier, we don’t see that as a positive.”

ESPN.com

This is the baseball equivalent of a legislator saying, “We have to pass this law for the children!” Small market clubs get low draft picks when they don’t play well, they get money from other clubs through revenue sharing and a competitive balance tax, and they saw their cost of signing young players substantially but the last two CBAs. Maybe they can’t compete because they don’t know how to run a ballclub.

I will also point out that signing free agents is good for the fans in those markets.

The Marlins did solve the small market problem. They brought in a lot of great players, won, they sold them off. Fans didn’t like that, either, but the Marlins have more World Championships in the last 25 years than the Mariners, Rays, Athletics, Royals, Pirates, Guarindians, and Brewers. Looking back, maybe that slash and burn method of winning wasn’t so bad.