After mangling, mismanaging and mucking up the RoxBottoms for 15\u00bd seasons Party Deck Dreck Dick Monfort has set his sights on debasing baseball and shutting down the national pastime for the 10th time in history.<\/p>\n
Monfort\u2019s team is the first to 50 defeats in 2026 and on pace for a ludicrous total of 600 losses in six years.<\/p>\n
Monfort has stepped aside from being Dicktator of the franchise to serve as chair of Major League Baseball\u2019s Labor Policy Committee and take on a principal role in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players\u2019 association, the strongest union in sports.<\/p>\n
The CBA expires at the last minute of Dec. 1. If no settlement is reached an eventual work stoppage \u2014 a strike by the players or a lockout by the owners \u2014 could impact spring training, the opening games or possibly the entire season. The shortest strike lasted just two days in 1985 and the longest 232 days in 1994-95 when the World Series was canceled. The most recent lockout in 2021-22 was 99 days at the beginning of the season before the dispute was decided.<\/p>\n
Despite being one of the weakest and least rich owners (estimated worth of $700 million) Monfort will be representing the owners for the second time in brokering. However, this time he is the head and is the most vociferous voice demanding a salary cap maximum and minimum with significant other contract changes, including a proposal of at least $1 million for each veteran player and a limit of five years on free-agent deals.<\/p>\n
The Rox have 24 players earning $775,000 or less this season, and the ever-injured Kris Bryant receiving $27 million in the fifth year of his $182 million deal that Monfort engineered.<\/p>\n
In the past few years Monfort has ripped on the Dodgers and the Padres in his division for spending extravagantly on players\u2019 contracts. He continuously called for a salary cap max and more revenue sharing among the 30 franchises to bail out \u201csmall- and mid-market\u201d teams like his \u2013 even though six of those, including expansionist partners Miami, Tampa Bay and Arizona, are at .500 or above this season.<\/p>\n
Monfort doesn\u2019t blame his and the front office\u2019s incompetence and the scouting department\u2019s ineptitude for the club\u2019s longtime failure, and especially last season when the RoxBottoms produced one of the worst records in baseball history (119 losses).<\/p>\n
Despite myriad offseason newly hired executives and coaches, and acquisitions of 20-plus fresh players, the Rox were still in a hard place and last place Saturday. And even though Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner purchased a minority interest in the franchise of 40 percent they aren\u2019t in charge, other than to pay off Monfort\u2019s debt, while Dick\u2019s sons still have major executive positions.<\/p>\n
Yet, the Roxbottoms have lost hundreds more games in the past three years and certainly could again. The preponderance of people in Colorado have turned away from them. Annually the team would be among the top seven in attendance, and the nation was amazed by the loyal following. However, the Rox have dropped to 17th overall this season, and that figure counts tens of thousands of no-shows.<\/p>\n
Dick, the 72-year-old former slaughterhouse monarch, is determined that the MLB joins the NFL, the NBA and the NHL with a salary cap, even though all three of the other leagues have experienced a multitude of problems regularly with their own versions of the systems. The owners institute salary caps, then do everything possible to break the rules.<\/p>\n
Because of the power of the MLBPA, the salary cap concept never has been approved in baseball, and most probably won\u2019t once more in the CBA, no matter what tactics and tricks Commissioner Rob Manfred\u2019s designated negotiator Dan Halem, with owners\u2019 forefront rep Monfort, attempt.<\/p>\n
The owners\u2019 side has just presented a complicated wish list. The players\u2019 side is not placated. The players are being offered pay raises and an equal share of revenues. But free agency will be affected and dramatically altered.<\/p>\n
The MLB owners are hellbent on a salary cap and most likely officially will force a lockout Dec. 2 to prevent free agency and trading in the offseason. Serious discussions won\u2019t start until the early months of 2027. Nobody knows when the momentous issue will be settled.<\/p>\n
Will the players bend? Will the owners break?<\/p>\n
Does Dick Monfort wear a winning baseball cap or keep being a loser in his last defiant act?<\/p>\n
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