MLB offers players 80% of prorated salaries, 72-game season

NEW YORK » Major League Baseball and its players are moving closer — to a deal or to Commissioner Rob Manfred ordering a shortened season without an agreement.

MLB offered players 80% of their prorated salaries and a 72-game schedule beginning July 14 in an effort to start the pandemicdelayed season, according to details of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press.

Players would get 70% of their prorated salaries during the regular season and the rest for completion of the postseason under MLB’s plan, given to the union Friday.

“This represents our final proposal for a 72-game season,” Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem wrote in a letter to union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer that was obtained by the AP. “You should let us know by the end of the day on June 14 whether players desire to accept it.”

Teams cut their proposed schedule each time they make an offer due to the calendar, unwilling to delay the World Series past October. Because salaries are tied to games, total pay for the year decreases as time goes by.

The players’ last offer, on Tuesday, was for an 89-game regular season at full prorated pay. The union said it will convene a call of players to discuss its response, but players repeatedly have said they don’t intend to move off their stance for full prorated pay.

“The owners’ whole strategy from the beginning has been this. Play as few regular season games as possible to limit player cost as much as possible,” Cincinnati pitcher Trevor Bauer tweeted. “Play as many postseason games as possible to drive revenue as high as possible. They’re more than happy to play only 50 games . ... Why would players play the additional 24 games for free and burden the additional risk of injury?”

MLB proposed that players be guaranteed about $1.27 billion in salaries including projected earned bonuses, increasing the total to $1.45 billion if the postseason is completed. The union’s proposal would guarantee players roughly $2.25 billion.

Before the new coronavirus caused opening day to be pushed back from March 26, salaries had been set to total $4 billion. Each side includes an additional $50 million postseason pool.

Players have insisted they receive 100% of their prorated salaries, the terms the sides agreed to in March, but that agreement was contingent on fans having access to stadiums. MLB told the union that playing in empty ballparks without gate revenue would cause a loss of $640,000 for each additional game played and that teams can’t afford full. The union has said it doubts MLB’s figures.

Manfred has threatened to unilaterally call for a schedule of about 50 games if teams must pay 100% prorated salaries. That would guarantee just under $1.25 billion — close to the new offer without the postseason portion. If Manfred goes with a one-sided plan, the union likely would file a grievance and hope an arbitrator would award money damages.

Both sides say they would agree to expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 16 in 2020 and 2021, but an agreement is needed for that to happen. MLB is to receive $787 million from Fox, Turner and ESPN in its current postseason format.