"It's About The Integrity Of The Game": Max Scherzer Speaks Out Against Tanking Teams

As the baseball lockout continues into its second month, there are no talks currently scheduled between the players union and MLB. Not much has been heard from either side in recent weeks. On Tuesday, one of the leading player voices spoke out, as the New York Mets' new $130M dollar man Max Scherzer called out teams who go into a season with no intention of winning.

Max Scherzer: Too many teams go into season 'without any intent to win'. 😬 https://t.co/haIbHkcidV pic.twitter.com/XLqlTLauvQ
— theScore (@theScore) January 4, 2022

"This negotiation is about the integrity of the game from our eyes," Scherzer told Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. “We feel as players that too many teams have gone into a season without any intent to win during this past CBA. Even though that can be a strategy to win in future years, we’ve seen both small-market and large-market clubs embrace tanking, and that cannot be the optimal strategy for the owners.”

The problem with this, for players of course, is that any team not looking to put an optimal product on the field will obviously not be spending big dollars on player salaries.

When asked about the record $2.6 Billion dollar spending frenzy by owners before the Dec. 1 lockout deadline, Scherzer said it was easily explainable.

"Everyone involved was worried that this lockout could run deep into the offseason. In the event that this lockout continues deeper into the offseason, there would be just a plethora of moves that every team would have to make in a very short amount of time. It’d be much tougher to try to negotiate with the teams and take time to actually sit down with them and discuss all the important topics... (Dec. 1st) was really kind of the last chance to freely discuss with teams and be able to field offers in a timely fashion."

The problems between the players and owners run deep, and coming up with a new collective bargaining agreement in time for spring training—a mere 6 or 7 weeks away—seems like a pipedream.

Photo Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports