While I absolutely disagree with Mark’s point that the Owner’s caved, I still do not know whether we are closer to MLB or not. The sides are still too far apart with a very short period of time to close the gap. But in my opinion, the Owner’s did not cave, but launched a surgical strike right at the Players. I am disgusted how the two leaders are acting like children and putting the industry of MLB at risk. Now it’s up to the adults on both sides to come together if they truly want a 2020 season.
Tony Clark once again got schooled with MLBPA’s 114 game full proration proposal. The Owner’s are not currently planning to officially respond with a counter-proposal. There is no urgency for them to do so. It is financially more advantageous to them to limit their salary commitment to the $170MM offered and agreed to in the March Agreement.
Instead, the Owners’ “unofficial” response was: ‘You want prorated salaries; okay, we are all in for a 50 game schedule.’ It was not formally presented to MLBPA but was “leaked”. In their negotiations last weekend, it has been reported that the Owners actually discussed a 40 game schedule. It will not take long for the Commissioner and his staff to produce a 40-50 game schedule, and when they do, the MLBPA will either relent or they will officially not cross. Then who gets the blame?
After a relatively successful round of negotiations that delivered the March Agreement, the second round of negotiations has been a vastly botched lesson in labor negotiations. The Owner’s and MLBPA did agree to the players earning a prorated salary on games played upon re-opening. However, both sides neglected to document what the consequences would be with no fans in the stands. We have learned that it was discussed due to the discovery of informal emails between the sides, but it was not formally documented in the Agreement. I am not generally in line with the Owners, and it sure seems to me that the actual Agreement does not allow for different salary structures dependent as to whether there are fans in the stands or not. I am not an attorney so I will leave that up to our resident legal counsel of “Dodgerrick and 2D2” to opine as to whether IF there is a dispute, the actual language in the Agreement will dictate.
The Owners were at fault with their original sliding scale proposal. They knew that the proposal was DOA. While the MLBPA leadership is weak, the Union itself is strong and will absolutely reject what they believe is a salary cap. The Owners knew this and selfishly proposed a plan they knew would be rejected immediately. That is not a valid negotiation tool for short period negotiations. It may be an appropriate opening proposal with 18 months to come to an agreement. But 30 days? The MLBPA responded in kind with just as much of a non-starter with their 114 game schedule with full proration. The Owners’ have already indicated that there will be $4 Billion loss with an 82 game schedule with full proration of salaries, why would they agree to a 114 game schedule with full proration? It was an idiotic proposal and counter proposal that showed more how both sides are posturing for the upcoming CBA negotiations rather than trying to create a realistic avenue to play a respectable number of games in 2020.
Below is a Forbes May 18 article on various financial scenarios for MLB as a group.
- Full 162 game season with fans in the stadiums and full player salaries
- 82 game season with fans and prorated salaries
- 82 game season with empty stadiums and prorated salaries
- 82 game season with empty stadiums and player salaries 50% of revenues
I also have no desire to scour the current CBA to determine if these types of disputes can be decided upon binding arbitration. But if both sides in this dispute actually want to play this year, they will need to compromise. It has been stated innumerable number of times and circumstances that a good compromise is one when both parties walk away unhappy. Both sides need to ignore short term gains and look for the long term goal of building baseball back up to the pinnacle of sports in America it once enjoyed. MLB is becoming an “Old Man’s Game”. Younger fans are quickly moving to other forms of entertainment. MLB and the Players have the opportunity to get kids back to watching baseball without any other competition. I fear if MLB wastes this opportunity, interest will continue to decline, and instead of the talks of expansion in MLB, it will become talks of contraction. I continue to hear comments like “I am learning to live without baseball, and I am fine without it.” With less interest and maybe contraction, where are those $300MM+ contracts going to go. Both sides will lose big.
MLBPA wants the owners to open their books. One, they are not going to. But more importantly, if they do, it will be for the next CBA, not for the re-opening of MLB in 2020. MLBPA may be right, but they need to get that argument out of the current negotiations.
This dispute is very quietly and quickly devolving into strictly a financial dispute. It has been quietly reported that MLBPA offered a few changes to the 67 page proposal regarding COVID-19 health concerns, and almost every one of those changes have been agreed to. Apparently all that is left is what happens to players who either are precluded from playing due to health concerns, and those who choose to opt out but are not considered at risk. I think mature negotiators can come to an amicable deal on those points and put the health concerns to bed.
But it is going to take adults in the negotiations to come to any quick agreement with respect to the salaries and games played issue. Will they? June 1, the original soft date for an agreement in order to begin the season in July, has come and gone. Now that soft date is getting harder for a June 9 drop dead date. On June 9, I will turn 68, and for my birthday, I am hoping to read about the agreed upon plans to open for the July 4 weekend.
Discussion (54)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Mark, it breaks your heart to watch the clip you just posted. As a country, we can do better than this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-BKmsYXx_0
When I need some advice about business, I’m going to ask you guys! Really sophisticated discussion of the negotiations. Thanks for that! STB, thanks for the link to the Athletic article. It is really powerful and moving to hear these men speak from their own experiences. Years ago, when I lived in New York, I had a friend, African-American, who told me he lived in fear of being shot every time he walked into a grocery store. He was getting his PhD at NYU. A big guy, and the gentlest person you ever met. He told me about the looks he would get from the guys working behind the cash register, the looks of fear and suspicion. He told me that they all had guns under the counters in case of robberies. Said he had learned how to act – put on a big smile, act really friendly, and hope that he didn’t get his head blown off. This was back in the early 90’s. I’ve never forgotten it. When he told me, I saw how scared he was. This big guy was terrified, and sorry to say, for good reason. If a cop can point a gun at Torri Hunter in his own house, and then the next minute ask him for tickets to the game, anything is possible.
I want to say thank you to all the posters ,for making this such a fun and stimulating place to go
KUDOS TO ALL OF YOU!!!
On an actual baseball related subject, the league is talking about possibly unilaterally imposing a return to baseball with a shortened schedule:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/06/mlb-rejects-mlbpa-proposal-no-counter.html
Meanwhile, the MLS has just approved a deal to return, and now the NBA will announce tomorrow that they’re back.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29260860/sources-nba-approve-plan-22-team-return-eight-regular-season-games
The Athletic (Ken Rosenthal and Doug Glanville) did a Zoom conversation with six black ex-major leaguers regarding their feelings about the current George Floyd situation and their experiences as African American men both in and out of baseball. They have published a transcript of that conversation.
I found it to be a very enlightening piece and am attaching the link below. Although The Athletic is subscription only, sometimes when they have important articles they allow access to everyone. Not sure if they’re doing that with this but I highly recommend the piece if you can access it.
https://theathletic.com/1849574/2020/06/02/a-conversation-retired-african-american-mlb-players-on-race-baseball-america/
I guess I am pretty blunt. But I do not believe in beating around the bush. I am beginning to believe that baseball as we knew it, and many other facets of our lives will never be the same. Makes me glad I am getting to the age where I will not have to witness the demise of things I have cherished all of my life. I just feel bad for my children and grand children, and my new great grand daughter. They will never know the America I knew growing up. It is just plain sad.
Then there is this:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/06/npb-mvp-hayato-sakamoto-tests-positive-covid-19-coronavirus.html
I will always love the game. I will always love the history of the game. I will always celebrate the true stars of the game. I played it for many years, and I played to win. I did not have the great abilities to become a pro. Even though that was my dream. I remember well watching the stars of the game growing up. Always a Dodger fan. Never wavered from that. Even in the lean years. After Sandy retired, it took them 8 years to win another pennant. Then after 88, it took them 29. Winners or losers they have always been my team. But I quit having favorites when Garvey left via free agency. I loved Garv. He was a professional hitter, and one of the clutchest players I had ever seen. But they did not want to re-sign him, he went to the Padres, and they won a pennant. No favorites for me after that. Never cared for any of the owners who followed O’Malley. The Dodgers were a family until Peter sold the team. And most former Dodgers left the organization. Just never has been the same. And now, it is all about the money. I get it, I really do. Baseball is a cash cow for the players, and owners who know how to keep it real. But don’t call them anything more than what they are. Owners want maximum profits. Players want as much money as they can squeeze out of the owners. They have the best retirement plan of any union I have ever seen, the best medical care and facility’s that make anyone else’s look paltry by comparison. And the fans? Well, we are low on their list of priority’s. Just look how much some of them charge for an autograph when they are at a sports card show. I will always love the game. Everything else about it, not so much.
The world is changed forever.
America is changed forever.
Baseball will be changed forever.
The owners are billionaires (on paper) and without fans that could change too.
Wanna’ become a millionaire in baseball? Start out as a billionaire.
It’s all paper money – the only real money is what the players make. Without fans and without players, a team like the Dodgers could be worth 30% of what it once was.
There are 30 teams. All were likely worth at least a billion a year ago. Let’s see them sell for anything close to that to what they were once were valued at.
I think people are re-evaluating their priorities and sports may be something they are indifferent about. If this doesn’t kill baseball, the next collective bargaining agreement just might. It’s going to get bitter.
It might be good time to form a new league. I think they will work out THIS season. I am worried about what is past that!
That’s cold no nic name.
This is why I like to come in here. You guys are damm smart. I learn something every day here.
I also like Bear’s direct approach. I don’t always agree with him but I do always appreciate I don’t have to guess what he’s getting at.
I have said for years that the strikes by millionaires and the escalation of FCI would drive fans away and every year I’ve been dead wrong. What’s left of my intellect tells me Jeff is right about where attendance is heading (I think he’s right about Clark too) but my gut tells me owners and players know they got us. Sports fans are a strange lot. We’ll put up with just about anything as long as we can see our teams play. When I go to games I always see young people there. Where they find the money to make that happen I don’t know, but they do. And even if they don’t show up the tv money is there and it is insane.
Sports in this nation are vital for our mental health as they give us a safe place to go when the rest of our lives might be surrounded by chaos. I self medicate by watching sports and lately I’m jonesing for my fix. I hope they get something figured out and I also hope the virus doesn’t stop everything.
I think the Owner’s original offer was not so much kindhearted toward players making less than $1,000,000 as it was a way to get the majority of players to agree in that the majority earn less than $1,000,000. Divide and conquer.
As to the comments on Boras, My mother used to say “ Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth“
I understand the hostility. The one side that is never considered is the fan. Maybe the fans should form a Union and get involved in the discussions. If there is no baseball at all this year, MLB will have a very tough time coming back. If there is a protracted and hostile environment for the CBA negotiations, there is no chance for MLB. The sport itself will survive, but the fans will (and already are) find other things to occupy their time. I can only speak for myself, but I will always watch the game. I will attend as many as I am physically able to. Baseball is in my DNA. But I am in the demographic that is not being replenished by the younger generation. At some point the Baby Boomer males will cease to exist and then what happens to MLB. Those fat TV contracts will dry up.
I will hold out all hope that there will be a season until we are told that the 2020 season will be cancelled. I cannot believe that two sides with so much to lose cannot compromise and agree.
I was working on a similar article to submit to you Jeff. I’ll make some revisions and submit to you by tonight.
Dodgerrick has summarized the legal aspects real well. II would just add, that in “normal” contract law, ambiguity in an agreement is typically interpreted against the drafter of the agreement. I would also quickly add, that this is not your normal contract. I also agree that we will not see baseball this year. It was one thing to hammer out the various concerns about how to deal with the pandemic. Now they have to address the very real concern that we might be looking at martial law curfews for an extended period in our future.
The March agreement(there were several good reasons why both parties needed to enter into it) provided: “Each player signed to a major league contract at the start of the season shall have his salary determined by multiplying his full-season salary by the number of games scheduled (not adjusting for weather-related postponements or cancellations) divided by 162, minus any advanced salary. In the event of an additional interruption or delay, the salary shall be determined by multiplying his full-season salary by the games played by the player’s club divided by 162. Thresholds and amounts for bonuses, escalators and vesting options would be reduced by using the same formula. A player previously at spring training who is unable to report because of travel restrictions or visa issues would be placed on the restricted list and receive up to 30 days of salary.
Each team shall contribute $94,444.44 per day for 60 days, a total of $170 million, either from March 26 through May 24 or until the start of the season, whichever is earlier, to allocate among players on the 40-man roster, 60-day injured list and those with major league contracts on outright assignments to the minor leagues. The payments will be made in equal installments on the normal payroll schedule. A player with a split contract (different salaries in the minor leagues and major leagues) receives $275 daily if his salary while in the minors is $46,000 to $91,799, $500 daily if $91,800 to $149,999 and $1,000 daily if $150,000 or more. The remainder of the $170 million will be split among the rest of the players with major league contracts who want advances; each player has the right to opt out. Amounts will be reimbursed through payroll reductions.”
“If teams play an 81-game schedule, players will get 50% of their full, agreed-upon money. If they play 120 games, they will receive 74%. Performance-bonus clauses will be prorated too.”
The issue that overrides all of the negotiations is MLB’s anti-trust exemption. On the business side of life, MLB does not play on a level playing field. The deck is stacked in its favor.
As a result, and very obviously, under this situation, the owners want to get away with the least number of games possible to minimize their player salaries. Whatever negotiating advantage the Players Union thought it may have obtained by the march agreement, quite frankly it doesn’t exist.
I am sorry you feel that way, Bear. I chose to think and hope saner minds will find a reasonable solution on both sides and an agreement to play baseball. Keep the faith Bear. All is not lost yet.
Just cancel the damn season and get it over with. I am tired of their bull shit. I love the game, but hate all the infighting and BS that goes on. There are players who make more in a season than I have made in my entire lifetime. And I have spent a lot of that money on watching the game, and souvenirs. Concessions, parking, all sorts of things. I collected baseball cards for years. But I am fed up with the owners and the MLBPA. They can all go jump in the frippen lake and drown as far as I am concerned. Even if there is a shortened season, I am not paying a red cent to watch any of the games, and it will be a cold day in Hell before I attend another game. I am done. Why should I cry for a bunch of prima donna’s>? To hell with all of them
One potential story line to follow with a 40-50 game schedule, will be what FA players (particularly pitchers) will be willing to take a chance on injury with so few games before becoming a FA. We see that with college football players entering the draft and opting to not play in Bowl games so as to not get hurt, thus hurting their opportunity for a high draft position and the dollars that go with it. Will those players (and their agents) believe that the risk of injury or a bad start are too great to risk FA. They might decide to forego their prorated salary over a 40-50 game schedule. As I indicated, that risk is going to be more of a concern for pitchers who are already at risk with a second start and a shorter ST. Does James Paxton and his surgically repaired back return for a 40 game schedule? What about Masahiro Tanaka and his questionable elbow. Both will be free agents after the season.
I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.” –
JACKIE ROBINSON
I haven’t been following baseball too closely and have barely exposed myself to negotiations to get the season started so below is my guess as to what is happening.
1. Players have been making a lot of money playing baseball.
2. Owners have at the least seen their franchises gain value and most are probably profitable under normal operating conditions.
3. Owners apparently will be unprofitable during every game played without fans in the seats so the fewer games played, the lower the loss.
4. If players accepted a 25% salary cut on every game played without fans in the seats in addition to their already agreeing to not get any salary for games not played, the owners will probably say they are still unprofitable.
5. Now might be a good time for players to accept an 81 game season and a 25% pay cut for games played without fans in the stands in exchange for something they have wanted but were not likely to get in the next collective bargaining agreement. Let the owners counter that offer.
For reasons previously stated, I for one doubt that there will be MLB this season.
On the issue of health, the Players have advocated for any “at risk” player (which they have conveniently left undefined) would be able to opt out of playing and still receive full pro-rated salary and service credit; all other players who decide not to play would lose their salary (shocking, I know) but still receive service credit. I don’t believe that MLB has agreed to this, nor should they in my view.
On the issue of money, MLB will not ever open their books. It just won’t happen.
There is allegedly some side agreement that allows for further discussion if games were to be played without fans in stands. On the issue of legality, contracts are generally interpreted initially only looking at the plain meaning of the words on the page. Only if there is ambiguity after reading the actual contract language do the parties and the courts go to parol evidence (extrinsic evidence outside of the language of the contract) to provide evidence of the parties’ intent. Parol evidence could include the e-mails to which you refer, notes taken during negotiations, various drafts of the agreement leading to final agreement, and so forth.
The agreement did provide for MLB to play as many games as practical, but it isn’t precise on this issue either.
On the issue of negotiations, the relationship between MLB and the Union has been acrimonious for years and getting worse. The posturing that is currently going on is not just for right now, but has implications for the new CBA. I expected nothing other than the kind of extreme proposals emanating from both sides. Giving ground in the light of extreme proposals isn’t caving – it’s just negotiating, usually as a thought out fall-back position.
The one thing that I know is MLB is running out of time to get the season started. I think that everyone assumed that an agreement would be locked down by 6/1 to start the season around 7/1. Maybe by dragging things out, MLB gets a later start date and the shorter season that they’re looking for?