Although Major League Baseball and the Players Association reached an agreement on March 26 that addressed service time, pay and other matters for what was shaping to be an unprecedented 2020 regular season, the deal ultimately wound up dividing the two parties.
Team owners began to claim paying players prorated salaries was no longer feasible due to the likelihood that at minimum the season would begin without fans begin able to attend games. MLB presented the union with multiple alternative financial plans, though they largely were
The MLBPA remained firm in their demands to receive the full prorated salaries that were agreed to in March, and the sides never managed to find common ground. After the players rejected an offer from MLB last week, commissioner Rob Manfred set out to impose season.
During an interview with Ross Stripling and Cooper Surles on the “Big Swing Podcast,” Clayton Kershaw admitted the players would have benefitted from ensuring the March 26 agreement was more clear, but he noted realizing that at the time was difficult:
“I think it’s probably so easy to go back and be like, ‘Man, we should’ve done this different. We should’ve done that different.’ I think I would go back to that March 26 agreement that we made, because we made it in such a flurry. We really didn’t know what was going to happen in the next coming months across the country. There was a lot of language that was just vague enough to get everybody in a tizzy.
“Whether it be ‘in good faith’ or ‘most games played possible’ or ‘prorated salaries.’ All these things, everybody has different interpretations of it. Obviously, I know where we stand as a union. I believe that and I’m with that. It’s just hard, because we had no idea what to expect. Looking back on it, sure, we should’ve changed things. But I don’t think you could’ve done it in the moment we were in.”
Kershaw further expanded in the interview to note he and others were largely expecting a relatively speedy return to normalcy at the time of negotiations for the March 26 agreement. To further illustrate that, Kershaw said he and his wife, Ellen, only packed one suitcase each when leaving Arizona for their home in Dallas, Texas.
Although the MLB hiatus has spanned more than three months, players are due to report for the start of Spring Training 2.0 by July 1. MLB additionally announced Opening Day of the 60-game regular season will be held June 23 or 24.
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