Lance McCullers Jr. Rips MLB Owners, Deletes Twitter Account

Houston’s pitcher criticized how CBA negotiations started before deleting his Twitter account.

Astros pitcher and MLBPA player representative Lance McCullers Jr. did not hold back as he blasted the league owners on Twitter before deleting his account.  

“It’s mind blowing these dudes legitimately caused these issue & continue to lie about it,” McCullers tweeted in response to a statement from MLB owners. “Walk out on us in Dallas. Lock us out. Don’t speak to us for 6 weeks. Take weeks at a time to respond to our proposals. Clearly don’t care about fans, baseball or the game. It’s exhausting.”

The pitcher is referring to the 10-minute meeting that occurred a day before the lockout began. Once it was imposed, there was a six-week gap before MLB and the MLBPA met again. 

McCullers went on to respond to a few fan comments, such as one that suggested the players should stop being unreasonable. The pitcher replied “What is unreasonable? Asking for better compensation for our young players that carry the game? Asking for the CBT to grow according to revenue? Trying to protect the young players to come after us? I’m confused.”

The latest proposal from the league was unanimously rejected by the MLBPA, which released a statement after the league’s decision saying it was ”disgusted, but sadly not surprised.”

Despite nine straight days of negotiations, the lockout continued Tuesday as MLB announced Opening Day would be delayed and several regular-season games will be canceled after a new collective bargaining agreement could not be reached by the league-imposed deadline. This is the first time since 1994 that regular-season games will be missed due to a work stoppage. As MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said during Tuesday's press conference, “A lockout is the ultimate economic weapon.”