While the start of the 2020 Major League Baseball season could be just around the corner, there still are a ton of issues that need to be sorted out, particularly on the financial side of things.
MLB and the Players Association have been going back and forth in recent weeks, exchanging financial proposals for the 2020 season, although the two sides do not appear to be close at this time.
The league originally proposed an 82-game regular season with players taking pay cuts in a tier system based on salary earned, with the highest-paid players sacrificing the most. That goes back on the original agreement the two sides made in March for players to make prorated salaries, although the fact that there won’t be any fans in attendance at games was cause for a renegotiation.
Unsatisfied with MLB’s first proposal, the MLBPA sent their counter on Sunday, asking for a 100-plus game schedule with an expanded postseason and potential for deferred salaries.
The proposal was made during a meeting between MLB and the union, which did not necessarily go well, according to Ronald Blum of the Associated Press:
The plan was given to MLB during an 80-minute digital meeting among Commissioner Rob Manfred, deputy commissioner Dan Halem, union head Tony Clark and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. The meeting was contentious, a person familiar with it said.
Both sides envision the regular season getting under in late June or early July, so time is no longer on their side if they want that to be the case. In order for players to have a sufficient Spring Training 2.0 period to ensure they are ready for the season, they would need to begin reporting in the next two weeks.
Because of that, the next week or so will be extremely important for the MLB and MLBPA to come to an agreement on negotiations. This is a golden opportunity for MLB to gain fans with not many other sports on television, so hopefully the two sides can put their differences aside for the greater good and come to an agreement, or else the 2020 season may be in jeopardy.
The owners are reportedly willing to cancel the season if that’s what it takes, which is not a good sign for baseball being played this year.
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