Don't get too wrapped up in the day-to-day MLB talks

Bill Shanks has advice on how to approach keeping up with the discussions about how to get baseball back on the field. Don't do it.

This is an emotional roller-coaster. One day, we might feel good about the prospects of baseball coming back. Then the next day, we'll wonder if there will ever be a game again.

That's why, in a strange way, maybe we don't need to pay attention to all of this news. Wait, I'm on a website and I am telling you to not read stories about the baseball discussions. Am I nuts?

Probably. And it's possibly in part because of the back-and-forth that is going on between the MLB owners and players. There is no trust here. There does not seem to be much respect either, particularly of commissioner Rob Manfred, whom the players don't seem to care for very much.

And it's not a big surprise. The commissioner should know better than to put something in front of the players he knows they'll scoff at. He should know better than to insult the players with a proposal that is just wasting our time.

He should also know better than to propose something that will cause the players to publicly ridicule the owners of their proposterous offer.

Yet, Manfred did it anyway. Did he really believe the players would say, "Okay, this sounds good to us. We are okay with our most popular, most well-paid athletes taking the largest pay cuts. Let's play ball."

Come on, man. Really?

This is why it is hazardous to our health to keep up with this news, that could change even before I hit publish on this story. It's Thursday, at 8:51 a.m. as I write this. My tone on my radio show this afternoon might be negative because of what I've read from the players' perspective since receiving the owners' offer Tuesday.

Then, watch something happen like Bob Nigtengale tweet out something positive to make me feel better about things.

That would be great, hoping for a season to begin on July 4. They will be wasting a golden opportunity if they cannot start on Independence Day. But then something else might be written to make me believe the players are going to tell the owners to stick it.

Welcome to the wild, wild world of negotiations. For some reason, MLB is handling this like a collective bargaining negotiation, instead of simply trying to find the most equitable and safe way to get the players back on the field. But in a CBA negotiation, the back-and-forth is usually contentious and nasty. We don't need that now.

People are hurting, physically, emotionally and financially. They don't want to hear millionaires and billionaires fighting. They just want to see baseball back on the field.

And soon.

But until then, we will have to have good days and bad days, unless we just close our eyes and hope that somehow, someway, we will see baseball back on the same day we have fireworks to celebrate our nation's 244th birthday.

We can only hope.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.