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I regret to inform you that Major League Baseball owners continue to do MLB owner things. Their latest proposal to the players union is, for the most part, essentially the same as their other offers.
We’ve been through this before. Owners have offered 82 games with a sliding scale of pay cuts beyond pro-rated salaries agreed to in March. They offered 76 games with, at maximum, 75 percent of pro-rated salaries. Rob Manfred has threatened a season of a reported 48-50 games if the two sides can’t reach a deal.
All of those scenarios result in players getting paid roughly a third of their full-season salaries.
Friday’s offer from the owners is 72 games, with further salary cuts for the players.
Source confirms: MLB proposal to union: 72-game season with players receiving 70 percent of prorated salaries for regular season and 80 percent if posteason is completed. First @BNightengale.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 12, 2020
With the $50M player pool if the playoffs are completed, MLB’s proposal states players would get 83 pct of prorated salaries, roughly $300M than an implemented shortened season
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) June 12, 2020
The guaranteed money is the key here, especially given the uncertainty of the postseason being played during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s easy to say you can just push into November,” Manfred told MLB Network Wednesday. “Our medical experts are telling us we should be finishing earlier, not later, because of a risk of a second wave of the pandemic.”
Seventy percent of 72 games is the equivalent of roughly 50 games at full pay, which is the looming threat by the league if both sides can’t reach a deal. If Manfred implements the schedule without an agreement, there wouldn’t be the expanded playoffs that both sides want, and agree would bring in extra revenue.
Eighty-three percent of 72 games, which is the maximum paid to the players if the postseason is completed, is the equivalent of roughly 60 games at full pay.
The movement by MLB owners during these negotiations has been so incremental that one wonders if they really want baseball to be played at all, despite Manfred’s “100 percent” guarantee on Wednesday night that there will be a 2020 MLB season.
The owners reportedly set a Sunday deadline for the players to accept the deal, but given the reaction from many players online, they won’t need that long.
It expired as soon as they hit send. https://t.co/vK5UrRANrb
— Trevor Williams (@MeLlamoTrevor) June 12, 2020
Lol
— andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) June 12, 2020
Laugh Out Loud https://t.co/TrfozyOdHS
— andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) June 12, 2020
— Brett Anderson (@_BAnderson30_) June 12, 2020
I’m guessing when the math is finished this will result in 33% of normal salaries also... for the 3rd straight proposal. Hey “it’s a step forward” though...
— Tucker Barnhart (@Tucker_Barnhart) June 12, 2020
Just so y’all know, 70% of prorated salaries at 72 games is the exact same as...wait for it...full prorated salary at 48. Nothing to see here. Same exact offer in different clothing. Just a reallocation of risk.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 12, 2020
Owners. pic.twitter.com/rVOuHWqMUQ
— Jake Diekman (@JakeDiekman) June 12, 2020
— Jack Flaherty (@Jack9Flaherty) June 12, 2020
Ok, so..... owners want them to play 72 games and only pay them for 50.... (that’s what the percentages show) and if players don’t want that, then they’ll have to play a 48 game season, but get paid for all 48 at full pro-rated. This is such garbage.
— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) June 12, 2020
The League and players explained in Father/son duo titled “Juice vs Water.”
— andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) June 12, 2020
(Forgive my delayed voice) pic.twitter.com/9Zi8ncvpQW