BOSTON, MA – DECEMBER 10: Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks during the 2019 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings on December 10, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
MLB owners reaction to MLBPA’s latest proposal is far from encouraging.
To give the players some semblance of credit, they appear willing to meet the owners halfway, while a group of billionaires happily sit atop their stacks of money watching the world burn. Exaggerations aside, owners have Rob Manfred to fall back on, as the commissioner could at the very worst enact a 50-60 game season with the pre-agreed upon prorated pay.
The players, however, would prefer a slightly longer season, and even suggest an expanded playoff field. Despite coming down to 75% of their previously-negotiated prorated agreement, the owners are not satisfied.
MLB owners still aren’t satisfied with the players despite concessions made in latest season proposal.
In response to the players asking for a longer season in exchange for an increased financial hit on their end, owners have reacted predictably, despite the MLBPA being willing to make concessions.
Both sides have been at this for over a month, and if forfeiting a greater clip of their pay isn’t enough for the players to make an impression on the owners in a play of good faith, then perhaps Manfred ought to jump the gun and impose some sort of season before it’s too late.
MLB’s inability to come to an agreement on trivial financial details during a global pandemic isn’t a good look for the sport, as they’ve already fallen behind the NBA and NHL in any potential return to play.
The owners are unwilling to budge, knowing that as time goes on, the public will turn to the players to continue making concessions until baseball can return. It’s an unfair ploy, but as the faces of the game, it’s on the players to make the necessary sacrifices to appease a group of billionaires more concerned about their bottom line than the fate of our national pastime.