"The phrase “Penny wise, pound foolish” comes to mind."
Apologies if I am repeating someone else here, as I have not religiously followed this thread or the one in the MLB forum.
I think the penny wise, pound foolishness goes far beyond the long term effects on franchise value. As you have frequently argued, the ownership bent the MLBPA over their collective knees in the last CBA and are now facing down a union that is eager to redress the situation next year.
It's likely that the next CBA will have a
much larger financial impact on the sport than this season will regardless of what happens. You've noted that the current situation provides an opportunity to get the next CBA hashed out sooner rather than later, but if we assume that doesn't happen then this seems like a tremendous opportunity for the owners to blunt the MLBPA ahead of the CBA negotiations. As it is, the players feel like they have been taken advantage of and they absolutely have a point. The owners are only reinforcing the players' sense of grievance and the merit of their case by reacting the way they are to the current season.
If instead the owners were conciliatory, made a big show of taking their losses and being
more than fair to the players, recency bias would probably earn them a ton of goodwill both among players and in the court of public opinion and give them an advantage in the negotiations about the next CBA.