After team owners agreed to a proposal for the 2020 regular season, the plan was due to be presented to the Major League Baseball Players Association. However, amid indications from the union they would not accept a 50-50 revenue share, MLB went back to the drawing board.
The league moved ahead with presenting the MLBPA with a 67-page document that outlined various health and safety protocols in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As MLB prepared a new economic plan, the expected date with which it would be delivered to the players changed.
That moment came Tuesday, with the MLBPA receiving a proposal that called for players to take pay cuts on a sliding scale, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
Major League Baseball has proposed cutting the salaries of the highest-paid players in baseball, with the lowest-paid players taking lesser cuts from their full prorated shares, in its first economic proposal to the MLB Players Association, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN.
While the size of the pay cuts is unclear, sources said the highest-paid players under the proposal would receive perhaps less than 40% of their full-season salaries.
Although the likes of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, manager Dave Roberts and players Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner are among those who have expressed confidence a 2020 season will be played, there is plenty of friction between the league and union.
The Players Association continues to assert a plan was in place with a March agreement that called for prorated salaries this year. However, owners have countered the deal was contingent on fans being permitted to be in attendance for games.
As the two sides remain at odds, time is becoming more of the essence. The hope was to have a deal in place by early June, which would clear the way for Spring Training 2.0 to begin, followed by the regular season starting in July.
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