It's June 1.In a perfect world a self-imposed deadline by Major League Baseball would take affect in less than a week, a deal between the owners and Players Union would occur, satisfying both sides on both the financial and medical front, and baseball would resume in Spring Training in late June. Games would begin July 4 weekend.
That is the dream. And let's be honest it's a total pipe-dream at this point. Because right now it doesn't look at all like we will have a baseball season in 2020.
The owners want an 82-game season and want to slash players salaries, with the highest earners getting hit the hardest. Case in point, players earning $20 million or more would only get about 20 percent of their annual salary. Players making the minimum $563,000 to a million would keep about 75 percent of their earnings.
Jeff Passan of ESPN has used Mike Trout's $37.6 million contract as an example. If you prorate Trout's contract based on the owner's proposal, the League MVP would have a base salary of only $5.7 million in 2020 for an 82 game season.
The Players Union of course object to this. They want more games, over 100 to be exact, and they want a guarantee of full prorated salaries for the 2020 season. Many feel Major League Baseball has taken an about-face when it agreed to pay the players $170 million regardless of whether there was a season or not.
And right now it doesn't look like either side wants to get back to the table. Nationals ace Max Sherzer ripped MLB, saying there is "no need to engage with MLB in any furhter compensation reductions." Mets starter Marcus stroman said on Twitter that the "season is not looking promising."
The owners meanwhile appear content to not have a season, because the alternative: baseball games without fans and players getting their full pay would cost them money. No season means they take their lumps and go home.
The owners are being frugal and they are slowing killing one of the greatest sports in this country. Teams around the league are laying off staffs; The Oakland A's, Miami Marlins, and LA Angles have all made staff cuts. Then we got word Thursday that MLB was cutting at least a thousand if not more Minor League players. The bleeding will not stop there, as Commissoner Rob Manfred wants to press forward with his objective to reduce the number of minor league affiliates down from 162 to 120 teams.
Already we are seeing reports that the Mets Double-A affiliate the Binghamton Rumble Ponies could be goners under this format, and the Brooklyn Cylclones would be turned into the Mets Double-A affiliate. What a shame. There are going to be hundreds if not thousands of young men in their 20s and 30s who will have to end their dream earlier than they ever anticipated.
This is a disaster of epic proportions.
Not only has the virus subjected the sport to total uncertainty, the Commissioner and the owners are strangling it like a serpent.
While the players are never going to look good in the eyes of public opinion, who deem each and every player a millionaire; it's important to keep in mind that over 65 percent of the sport makes less than a million a year. The players just want to play. They also want to be paid. And they want to know it will be safe for them to do so. Can you blame them?
What makes this situation even worse is there doesn't appear to be even a concrete plan in place to play the games safely. We went from hearing about plans of having teams sequester in Arizona and Florida to teams playing in their home cities, and playing divisonal opponents only. We really don't know what baseball will ultimately do there.
But of course the biggest hurdle to cross is the money. With only a year left on the CBA, which expires December 31, 2021, the labor unrest could continue well into next season. Who knows what baseball's landscape will look like then with fewer minor league teams, a draft that has been reduced to just five rounds, and players who are in lockstep in their distrust of a Commissioner who has done nothing but try to drastically change the sport since he came aboard.
The biggest winners if baseball doesn't return in 2020? The NHL. The NBA. The NFL. NASCAR. The PGA. All the other sports will gain a leg up, becuase at least they are trying. NASCAR has been running races for three weeks. Golf had a huge charity Match between Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady last week. The NHL and the NBA are planning to come back this summer and finish their seasons.
What is MLB's plan? A summer without baseball. A future in doubt, and a sport in crisis.
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