Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
MLB owners are only making their public perception worse after latest MLBPA proposal.
A last-ditch effort to save the 2020 MLB season could go by the wayside if the owners remain unwilling to budge on most facets of their negotiations. While finally agreeing to prorated salaries, the owners now remain stubborn on a 60-game season. The players, finally believing that Rob Manfred’s bunch understood the importance of baseball during a global pandemic, countered with a similar, yet slightly altered proposal.
The players would rather opt into a 70-game season, as it would mean a larger sample size for an expanded postseason field, and more salary on their end.
MLB owners scoffed at the players’ counter-proposal on Thursday.
While reports last night indicated that Manfred and Tony Clark had a handshake agreement on a deal late Wednesday night, that was proven not to be the case in a statement released by the MLBPA president. Instead, the players’ proposal stated their terms, with the public perception being that the two would eventually have to meet in the middle.
Instead, the owners are as stubborn as ever.
The worst proposal of all-time? Such a statement is not only not promising, but a fallacy. The players have made previous proposals to this that called for an even longer season, and therefore more money out of the owners’ pockets. Any optimism from Wednesday night has essentially vanished, with the owners shooting down the players’ attempt at a counter with the same vitriol they’ve approached the bargaining table with from the outset.
The loss of an MLB season would have a devastating impact on the pocket book of any baseball franchise owner. The sport itself is already extraordinarily localized in coverage, surpassed by college football and basketball, the NFL and the NBA in excitement and national prestige. The time for petty insults is not now.