We’re going to get the default MLB season

Ugh.

The Major League Baseball Players Association asked MLB to set a schedule for the 2020 season rather than counter the latest return-to-play proposal by the league, setting the stage for MLB to implement a significantly shortened schedule and deepening the labor strife between the parties.

In a statement Saturday night, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark rejected MLB’s latest proposal and said: “Further dialogue with the league would be futile. It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where.”

A March agreement between the parties allows MLB to set a schedule, and the league has suggested that in the absence of a negotiated agreement with the union it could impose a schedule of somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 games and pay players full prorated salaries worth a total of around $1.25 billion.

MLBPA lead negotiator Bruce Meyer, in a letter sent to deputy commissioner Dan Halem on Saturday night and obtained by ESPN, said: “We demand that you inform us of your plans by close of business on Monday, June 15.”

In a statement on Saturday night, MLB said in part: “We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chosen not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play after MLB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, Clubs and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Upon any implementation of a schedule, players wouldn’t necessarily report to a second spring training immediately, sources told ESPN. The parties still do not have an agreement on a health-and-safety protocol and would need one before players arrive. Any season would be scheduled to start after a three-week spring training, though a coronavirus outbreak could change the league’s plans. Multiple players on 40-man rosters have tested positive for the virus recently, according to sources.

If MLB does implement a season, both parties could file grievances to be heard by an arbitrator, though neither would necessarily delay games being played, sources said. The union could file a grievance that the league did not fulfill its obligation to play the most games possible, sources told ESPN. The March agreement says the league should use “best efforts to play as many games as possible, while taking into account player safety and health, rescheduling needs, competitive considerations, stadium availability, and the economic feasibility of various alternatives.” The league could likewise file a grievance over a lack of good faith negotiations regarding salary by the union, sources said.

Commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN this week that “unequivocally we are going to play Major League Baseball this year,” placing the chances at “100 percent.”

Here’s the full statement from the MLBPA:

Buster Olney puts most of the blame for this impasse on the owners. I’d make it at least 90-10 in that direction. The owners do have one legitimate complaint, which is that their revenue model depends a lot more on game attendance and associated items like parking and concessions than other sports, where national TV is the bulk of the income. As such, games with no fans will indeed eat into their bottom lines. The problem is that they basically never changed their initial offer, which would have slashed player pay by about a billion dollars, and any claim on their part about their actual financial situation is completely muddled by the secrecy of their accounting. Ben Clemens goes through a very simple exercise in financial engineering to show how owners can make lots of money while showing zero cash balances every year. Even a cursory study of MLB history would cast a large amount of doubt on any financial claims the owners would make.

We’re still not out of the woods here. Safety protocols for the players and everyone who works at the games still need to be established. The NBA has agreed in principle to restart their season, but even they still have player concerns to address before anyone laces up a pair of sneakers. And of course, none of this bodes well for the next round of collective bargaining agreements between MLB and the players. After a long and generally prosperous time of labor peace, it looks like it’s about to get tumultuous. Hold onto your hats.

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One Response to We’re going to get the default MLB season

  1. brad says:

    Smells like 1994, but with more difficult circumstances.

    Ah…those halcyon days when it was just a matter of 700 owners and baseball players greedily squabbling over splitting $2 Billion that killed the season and World Series.

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