Mike Trout fires major shots at MLB, Rob Manfred for MLB lockout

LA Angels' superstar Mike Trout is not holding back when it comes to how he feels about Rob Manfred and MLB when discussing the MLB lockout. He released the following statement on Wednesday, a couple of days after Commissioner Manfred canceled the first two series of the season for every team:

The first part of his statement that really sticks out the most is "Instead of bargaining in good faith - MLB locked us out." The league didn't necessarily have to lock the players out, but obviously didn't like what was going on and wanted to negotiate a new CBA. This leads into the second most important part of what Trout said.

"Instead of negotiating a fair deal - Rob canceled games." He is referring to the fact that the commissioner didn't have to set a deadline to the negotiations and cancel games. Opening day was of course still weeks away, and so the league didn't need to set such a tight deadline, which they set for Monday night at midnight.

LA Angels' franchise player Mike Trout believes that Manfred and MLB are responsible for the MLB lockout.

LA Angels' Center Fielder Mike Trout is mostly right about that claim, as again, the league didn't have to set a deadline for missed games. Opening Day was still a ways away, and the deadline could have been the day that Opening Day was scheduled, instead of Monday.

It is true, however, that some of this is on the players as well. They haven't done the best job compromising themselves, as evidenced by some players claiming that the league is trying to have the players lose money, when the league did offer the players a 5% pay increase. The players wanted a 13% pay increase instead.

MLB is still 100% responsible for canceling the games, however, as like I said, they didn't need to do that. It really says a lot about the owners, as they were comfortable doing that. It begs the question of how many owners are truly in it for the game as opposed to only being in it for the money.

I'm not going to tell anyone how to live their life, and how to run their business, but I will admit that it's odd to own a baseball team and not particularly care about the sport to the point where you're okay with a random deadline being set that will cancel games. It's pretty bad for a game that's already struggling to survive to an extent. Trout seems to agree with me on that, and I hope he gets back out on the diamond soon.