It was a busy week in baseball with more back and forth about starting the 2020 season and the MLB Draft. Let’s catch up on everything you need to know.
Another Proposal
The Players’ Association made another proposal to the owners this week, asking for an 89-game season with expanded playoffs, but not budging on their insistence that they receive their full prorated salary. On the surface, this proposal is a reasonable middle ground between MLB’s last proposal of 76 games at 75% prorated pay and the union’s previous proposal of 114 games at full prorated pay.
In the proposal, there would be 16 teams in the postseason, which would help owners recoup some of their revenue and make it easier to give players a prorated salary. However, this proposal was not met with much fanfare by the owners, meaning the two sides will have to keep working on an agreement.
‘Keeping It 100’
Despite the players and owners remaining far apart, Commissioner Rob Manfred says that he’s 100% sure there will be a baseball season in 2020. However, Manfred also says that he’s hopeful that the players will cave on demanding a full prorated salary. He also believes the 89-game season they proposed is a little unrealistic given how much time has passed.
Of course, Manfred has the option of starting the season at any point, as long as players get prorated salaries. The problem is that such a season would likely be limited to around 50 games. It would also create even more tension between the owners and players with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire after the 2021 season.
Obviously, Manfred is confident there will be a season because he holds the power to start one. But doing so would come at a cost.
In the Poor House
As the players and owners continue to argue about money, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. spoke out this week with claims that owning a baseball team isn’t all that profitable. He admits “distrust” between the owners and players, but calls owning a club a “zero-sum game.” His comments echo what Cubs owner Tom Ricketts said about owners putting most of the revenue they generate back into the team.
Meanwhile, a couple of players have responded publicly to those comments. Jason Kipnis spoke about the dangers of accepting the kind of terms the owners are proposing for the 2020 season, saying: “If you give them an inch, they take a mile, with these owners sometimes.”
At the same time, Max Scherzer continues to suggest that the owners show their financial records to prove how much money they’d lose if they have to pay players a prorated salary this season. Of course, Scherzer is on the Players’ Association subcommittee, so his words carry a lot of weight.
The Truth
Retired center fielder Torii Hunter created waves this week when he said that he made sure his no-trade clauses included the Red Sox because of the racial taunts he received when playing in Boston.
Surprisingly, the Red Sox released a statement that backs up Hunter’s claim. “If you doubt him because you’ve never heard it yourself, take it from us, it happens,” a statement from the Red Sox read. The Red Sox admit to seven reported incidents of racial slurs at Fenway Park last season, although it’s likely that there were more.
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