Sides near deal on steps when baseball resumes

Major League Baseball and the players’ union are close to reaching an agreement on critical economic issues in hopes of salvaging the majority of the 162-game season, according to an MLB executive with knowledge of the negotiations, even if it means playing the World Series in late November.

The executive spoke with USA Today on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The deal, which might be announced Thursday — when Opening Day originally was scheduled — would include a commitment from MLB and the players to play as close to a full schedule as possible, provided the COVID-19 crisis dissipates and permits them to start a season.

The sides would like to play at least 100 games, scheduling them through October and including weekly doubleheaders. They also have discussed the idea of expanding the playoff format to help offset the loss of income and acknowledged they could move playoff series and the World Series to a neutral site if cold weather becomes an issue in November.

The biggest issue in negotiations has been service time, which is close to a resolution for a truncated season. The sides are near agreement that if there’s a season of any length, players would receive credit for a full year, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said.

This would permit players such as Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and righthanders Trevor Bauer of the Reds and Marcus Stroman of the Mets to achieve free agency after the 2020 season, as they were scheduled to do. It also would provide teams clarity with players on long-term contracts.

The sides, however, have yet to reach an agreement about whether players still would be credited for a full or partial year if the entire season was canceled. Betts has five years and 70 days of majorleague service time and is 102 days shy of becoming a free agent. Could he become a free agent without playing a game for the Dodgers? And if no service time was provided for a lost season, would the Tigers be paying declining slugger Miguel Cabrera $32 million annually through 2024, when he’ll be 41?

Teams also have pledged to pay players on 40-man rosters a lump sum of

$150 million in upfront money in April, The Athletic reported. That would average about $125,000 per player, based on a sliding scale with players’ contracts. Players are scheduled to receive their first paychecks April 15 and, if the season resumes, would be paid on a prorated scale based on how many games are played.

In the meantime, teams also have promised their full-time employees that they will continue to receive their salaries through April 30 with no layoffs. Still, several employees say they have received a warning letter from their team, which gives a 60-day notice on potential mass layoffs.

MLB’s best hope is to start the season around June 1 and no later than July 1, simply picking up the original schedule when the sport resumes. But it is following the lead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Once teams are given permission to start working out again, it’s quite possible that instead having players return to their spring-training sites for a minimum of two weeks, they will work out at their teams’ home ballparks, reducing further expenses and expediting the start before the new Opening Day. Teams likely will open the season with expanded rosters for the first month, as well. That means that instead of having 26-man rosters, they might have as many as 30 players.

It remains unknown how long MLB and the union would be willing to play with no fans permitted in the stands, how they would adjust the unplayed schedule to make it equitable for all teams, whether there still will be an amateur draft or a truncated version and how minor-leaguers would be paid.

Those questions can wait. For now, however, the sides are hoping to make an announcement on what was scheduled to be Opening Day of the 2020 season that they have reached an agreement on several critical economic issues. From there, they will pray there still will be an Opening Day sometime this summer.