Players Agree to Report July 1, Issues with Health and Safety Protocols

We are a step closer to getting baseball back, believe it or not. The players union agreed Tuesday night to report to training camps a week from tomorrow, July 1, but they are still trying to figure out the health and safety protocols amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The agreement to play baseball comes after the players union and the owners proposed, rejected and countered numerous offers to resume the season with the players seeking more games and a full prorated salary, while the owners -- concerned that COVID-19 would do damage to revenue -- wanted less games and to slash player salaries.

At the end of the day it was Manfred who mandated a 60-game season -- the same length that MLB proposed to players last week that was initially rejected by the union. Under an initial agreement in March that gave the commissioner discretion in the matter, players would receive a full prorated share of their salaries -- or 37 percent of their full season salaries, or around $1.5 billion. The postseason will remain 10 teams, not the 16 teams MLB proposed during negotiations. The universal DH will be a fixture this year, but not in 2021, due to health and safety precautions. The season is expected to begin around July 24, and end September 27.

The question is if Manfred had the power to do this all along, why didn't he mandate a season a month ago, even two months ago?

The answer might be in the the owners unwillingness to play more games in front of empty grandstands, while dolling out more to the players in prorated salary. Remember there was conversation that a number of owners didn't want to play at all in 2020. Somehow Manfred was able to get the owners in line to make this happen at the 11th hour.

Of course the players could still file a grievance against Major League Baseball for not fulfilling a full slate of games.

The other issue, of course, is COVID-19. While the rate of infection is down in parts of the Northeast, the virus is still a problem there. In other parts of the country, namely South and West, the virus is gaining momentum. Already a number of teams had to shut down their spring training facilities because of the number of players and staffers who have already been infected. The Philadelphia Phillies have as many as 12 known infections in the last week.

The Toronto Blue Jays who had to close their spring training facility in Florida down as well, still don't have a concrete plan to play games in Canada this year -- which has its own COVID-19 isolation rules to deal with as well. The Blue Jays might be nomads in 2020.

While it is good that the union and the league finally agree in principal on something -- like reporting to camp July 1, the damage to the game is final and complete.

Fans are upset, and rightly so, feeling as if they were dragged through the proverbial mud over millions and billions of dollars; money is something many people don't have the luxury of right now -- and they feel little sympathy for baseball's own plight.

Not only are the fans turned off, but playing what is essentially a make-shift two-month sprint only delays the inevitable labor problems that will exist for baseball in 2021 and 2022. The CBA expires December 31, 2021. Clearly a players strike could be in the offing down the road, but that can has been kicked down the road -- at least for now.

Baseball might be back -- but it certainly does feel hollow right now, doesn't it.