[ESPN] MLB suspends spring training, delays Opening Day at least two weeks

Curious, are players working out and practicing at this point? I was hoping for daily updates of players returning to practice but not sure that has happened yet like it has in NBA? Still not sure what the hell is going on in the sports world for the first time in my life.

 

They have opened many of the stadiums for the players including MMP, no idea what the actual regulations are though

 

Spoiler

Major League Baseball on Wednesday rejected the Players Association’s proposal of a 114-game season and told the union it would not send a counter, again leaving the parties deadlocked in their quest to begin the 2020 season.

The league, according to sources, also informed the MLBPA it has started talks with its owners about playing a shorter season without fans, and that it is ready to discuss additional ideas with the union on that subject.

The impasse over player pay, however, shows no signs of abating.

The league will not make another proposal. The union, after agreeing to prorated salaries in March, remains steadfast that its members will not accept a second pay cut and does not plan to negotiate against itself.

MLB is entertaining playing a season as short as 50 games. A scenario exists in which players would earn more total dollars playing 80 or so games at a per-game discount than 50 or so at full price. The league has not proposed such a scenario – the idea, for now, is hypothetical. But the math for this year’s pay is not the only factor for players.

The union wants MLB to honor the terms outlined by the March agreement, and might be willing to sacrifice short-term financial gain in order to establish what it believes to be long-term negotiating strength. Last week, the PA rejected the owners’ proposal of a tiered salary structure that would have resulted, by the union’s estimate, in an additional reduction in total dollars of more than 30 percent.

If the parties are to reach a new agreement, they will need to act quickly to play a season as long as 82 games, starting around July 4. While no hard deadline exists for a deal, the players likely will need a minimum of a month to report to camps and participate in preseason workouts before the season can begin.

Though the language in the March agreement between the parties is subject to interpretation, MLBat believes the wording enables commissioner Rob Manfred to determine the length of the season as long as the league pays the players the prorated salaries outlined by the deal.

The union, though, is not without leverage.

The March agreement does not appear to give Manfred the power to dictate the postseason, saying, “The parties shall negotiate in good faith regarding potential one-time changes to the structure, format, qualification rules, or other similar rules regarding the 2020 post-season, which discussions shall include potential ways to expand the post-season beyond its current format.”

The union offered expanded playoffs in its proposal to the owners on Sunday, but only as part of a larger agreement. The failure to strike a deal would leave the league without the ability to expand the postseason and realize additional income. The league also would sacrifice other potential benefits the union offered, including player commitments to broadcast enhancements.

Either or both parties could pursue a grievance if they cannot resolve their differences. The ensuing arbitration, however, would be time-consuming, and thus is an impractical solution if the parties wish to play an abbreviated 2020 season.

The owners do not see an extension of the regular season as viable. The March agreement allows for such a plan, but Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Tuesday that the union’s proposed 114-game season was not acceptable because of the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 hitting this fall.

The threat of the virus derailing the season will linger even if the major-league players and owners agree on economics and health and safety protocols for 2020. Two players with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants recently tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the team to cancel a practice game against the Seibu Lions and renewing concerns about the game’s ability to return in that country.

“We don’t want to take the risk of putting our players in jeopardy and our game in peril to be playing games beyond the end of October,” Kendrick said. “So our model is and will never be changed that we will not be playing baseball in the month of November.”

Financial considerations also might drive such a decision: Fox Sports and TBS, the networks that carry the bulk of the postseason broadcasts, likely would want the league to stick to its current plan and stage the postseason in October.

Pushing playoff games to November would cost the networks lucrative pre-election advertising. Fox, which carries the World Series, also might sacrifice ad dollars if the Series ended around Thanksgiving. The network’s other programming at that time includes the Michigan-Ohio State college football game on Nov. 28 as well as the NFL.

MLB indicated this week it would pay players their full per-game salaries, but only in a schedule that would consist of as few as 50 games. The league says it would lose money for every regular-season game played. The union wants to play as many games as possible to maximize the players’ earnings on a per-game basis.

The league projected the players in 2020 to earn a total of about $4.37 billion. They would receive approximately 31 percent of that sum in a 50-game season with full prorated salaries, or about $1.35 billion.

How, then, might they do better with a second pay cut over 82 games?

If, for example, the owners proposed giving them 80 percent of their prorated salaries in a season of that length, the players would receive 40 percent of their overall salaries, or about $1.75 billion — in other words, roughly $400 million more than they would earn from 100 percent of their prorated salaries in a 50-game season.

Again, the league has given no indication it would make such a proposal, and might simply prefer to play a shorter season and pay a lesser amount. The union, meanwhile, does not want to entertain a second pay cut, believing that players, for the games they work, should be paid in full.

Abdicating that position now might only give the league impetus to seek other concessions in the future, union officials say. The players do not want to project weakness with negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement looming in 2021.

The union gave perhaps an early glimpse of its approach during the negotiations for the 2020 amateur draft. The league proposed a 10-round draft that would have reduced signing-bonus rates by half in rounds 6 through 10, creating a cost of $500,000 per club in those rounds. The union did not accept that offer or negotiate off it because the league’s proposal included other restrictions the union found unacceptable, including a limit on the number of undrafted players who could sign for $20,000 this year.

No new proposal followed, and the league exercised its right under the March agreement to reduce the draft to five rounds from its customary 40. The union’s position indicated it would not allow the league to push for additional sacrifices the players view as disproportionate. The final outcome, after both sides held firm, effectively denied 150 players the opportunity to be drafted and cost them a potential $15 million in bonuses.

The stakes for the 2020 major-league season obviously are much higher. Yet for all the recent tension between the parties, Manfred’s history is that he prefers to settle with the union rather than simply impose his will on the players — he declined to exercise his unilateral right to impose a pitch clock, for example.

The path to resolution, though, remains unclear, and time is working against the players and owners if they wish to play 82 games. The parties also need to negotiate a host of lesser details, including roster sizes, rules changes and payment and service time for players who wish to opt out of the season, whether they are at high risk for COVID-19 or not.

The league fears a second wave of the virus might force the cancellation of the postseason and cost the owners additional millions. The union offered to defer $100 million if that worst-case scenario occurred, and might negotiate a higher amount if the league offered to maintain the players’ full prorated salaries in a season closer to 82 games than 50. But the league, for now, remains opposed to deferrals.

The players’ proposal for 114 games and owners’ suggestion of 50 does offer one potential glimmer of compromise.

The midpoint of those two numbers is 82.

 

The ball is back the players side of the tennis court, and Anna Kournikova's ass is not wiggling in 4k resolution like it should be.

 

Just cancel the season already. Any shortened season's World Series title is going to have an asterisk next to it anyway.

 

Don't worry guys, I've been playing OOTP Baseball '21 and we win back to back titles in 2022 and 2023. Yordan leading the charge! Our future is still bright

 

that’s fine if that is how you feel

I know myself and many others would be rooting like crazy during a 2020 Astros World Series run

It’s like 2017, many want an asterisk next to it

I could care less, they will never, NEVER take away the feeling I had watching us win that title.

 

I can see the national media coverage now.

2020 Worst Year Ever:
Corona Virus
Floyd death - Riots
Astros win 2020 World Series

 

2020 has an Astros championship all over it. What a total disaster that would be for ****face Manfried and Cody Bellinger. It's destiny. This season needs to happen.

 

If you tie a black bear to a ping pong table, it won't make him a better ping pong player. First though, nice job getting a black bear tied to a ping pong table. And then second, look for in your ear.

 

Major League owners have caved and will give each player 120 games off next season in honor of Floyd. Offer is on the table.

 

Spoiler

One day after Major League Baseball said it was rejecting the Players Association’s 114-game proposal for the 2020 season and would not make a counteroffer, the players doubled down on their position: They will not take a second reduction in pay.

More than 100 players met digitally on Thursday night and reaffirmed virtually unanimous support for that firm stance. Three players on the call described the group as extremely united.

“We want to play. We always have,” said Cardinals pitcher Andrew Miller, a member of the MLBPA’s eight-man executive subcommittee. “We also won’t lose sight of our principles and rights. Players are engaged like I’ve never seen before. Every day through this, each of those factors is reinforced. We hope to be on the field as soon as possible.”

Per a March agreement between MLB and the union, commissioner Rob Manfred appears empowered to set a schedule and choose a number of games played for the shortened season. The agreement mandates only that MLB makes the “best effort” to play as many games as possible, and Manfred and the owners are preparing to move forward with a season of 50-some games, playing that few because they say they will lose too much money unless players take an additional cut.

“In this time of unprecedented suffering at home and abroad, players want nothing more than to get back to work and provide baseball fans with the game we all love,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said in a statement Thursday night. “But we cannot do this alone. Earlier this week, Major League Baseball communicated its intention to schedule a dramatically shortened 2020 season unless players negotiate salary concessions. “The concessions being sought are in addition to billions in player salary reductions that have already been agreed upon.

“This threat came in response to an association proposal aimed at charting a path forward. Among other things, players proposed more games, two years of expanded playoffs, salary deferrals in the event of a 2020 playoff cancellation, and the exploration of additional jewel events and broadcast enhancements aimed at creatively bringing our players to the fans while simultaneously increasing the value of our product. Rather than engage, the league replied it will shorten the season unless Players agree to further salary reductions.”

The players believe they already took one reduction when they agreed their 2020 salaries would be paid on a prorated basis, based upon the number of games played. MLB maintains the March agreement allowed it to pursue additional cuts based upon language concerning the “economic feasibility” of playing without spectators and suggests the union misrepresented the March deal to players by saying no further negotiation was necessary. The union’s bottom line is that nothing forces the players to accept another reduction.

“Both sides ideally would prefer a longer season,” Clark said. “MLB’s initial proposal included a schedule of 82 games but was unacceptable to the union because it included cuts the union estimated to be greater than 30 percent in total dollars. Players also disliked that offer because the structure appeared to pit younger and older players against each other, with tiered cuts that affected the richest players the most.

“Earlier today we held a conference call of the association’s executive board and several other MLBPA player leaders. The overwhelming consensus of the board is that players are ready to report, ready to get back on the field, and they are willing to do so under unprecedented conditions that could affect the health and safety of not just themselves, but their families as well. The league’s demand for additional concessions was resoundingly rejected. Important work remains to be done in order to safely resume the season. We stand ready to complete that work and look forward to getting back on the field.”

That offer, which came nine days ago, served to galvanize some players and their agents, pushing some moderates further toward the hardliners’ camp for a feeling that MLB was trying to act too aggressively. One player agent said MLB made it easy for players to take a firm position — he called it “low-hanging fruit” — in part because it has not put forth another offer.

“If they want to unilaterally impose this b*stard season, then so be it,” the agent said. “And that will be what’s expected. By doing that, they are galvanizing the union. The problem here is distrust. If this was a marriage, it would be a divorce. The union has been attacked. The players don’t like it.

“I’ve never seen a negotiation like this in anything in my life. ‘Negotiation’ is a very generous term. It’s like a spit-wad contest.”

 

Rockets 2020 NBA Champs

 

Dodgers vs Astros World Series Game 7. Yordan hits the game-winning home run to lebum in the stands. Jeez

I still think we need some more pitching depth but lets see what opens up for us around the deadline.

 

I think it’s unlikely to have trading

 

At this point, the MLB probably should just call the players' bluff and cancel the season. It's basically like a lockout prior to the next CBA negotiations, but they can blame coronavirus for it to avoid the bad publicity. Just put out a statement that unlike other leagues where the players and teams shared the burden, the MLB players were uninterested and thus the league had no choice but to cancel the season. It makes it a hell of a lot harder for the players to strike towards the end of next year as well.

 

It would be possible for the Rockets to eliminate the Lakers and the Astros eliminate the Dodgers within weeks of each other right? That would be wonderful.

 

If other leagues were scheduled to start their season in April vs. being 80% completed (NBA) or being months away from having to worry about it (NFL), you'd see the same concerns there.

The heightened "blame" being totally put on the players here is surprising. The March 'agreement', where it was highly discussed that there was a possibility of having no fans at the get-go prior to agreeing to only pro-rated salary decreases, is what the players will stand by... with any attempted adjustment to that being bad faith by the owners. It also sets a pretty bad precedent that owners would be able to further reduce things in years where they end up not making as much as they thought. Lastly, the lack of any sort of negotiation (on both sides) speaks to a much larger disconnect between the two factions that has existed long before any virus concerns... and was going to come to a head regardless of this season or not.

The players still maintain leverage... and will always be more unified than the owners... which is why they've always been able to force the issue/resolution more towards their favor. The owners actively trying to divide the lower-middle-upper class against each other has merely served to galvanize the entire group.... and that was a mis-calculation on the owners part. (or it was what they secretly wanted... as there are low market teams that still lose money even with paltry payrolls and no big contracts... because no revenue sharing).

 

American history is littered with luck. This fight may leave them as the last league standing after the corona melts down Orlando.