The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
MLBPA plans to counter the owners’ economic proposal
NEW YORK — Why stop at 82 games when you can get paid for 100.
The Major League Baseball Players Association will counter MLB’s economic proposal this week with a schedule request that includes over 100 games and, further, a guarantee of full prorated salaries.
The latest news, first reported by ESPN, arrived after Nationals starter Max Scherzer, a member of the Players Association’s eightperson executive subcommittee, tweeted a statement late Wednesday night. Scherzer implied the players’ union would not accept further pay cuts after agreeing to prorated salaries in March, and if the league provided documented proof of its financial burdens, MLB’s economic strategy would change in the union’s favor.
“After discussing the latest developments with the rest of the players there’s no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions,” Scherzer said in a tweet.
The union’s desire to jam more than the league-proposed 82 games into the 2020 season could serve as a headache for MLB and its owners. The longer the schedule goes, the greater the chance of a potential second wave of the coronavirus canceling the postseason, which would wipe out the league’s national television revenue. The players, however, would benefit from playing more games due to their current prorated salaries: more games means more earnings.
The league maintains that without fans in the stands and gate-related revenue, players must further reduce their salaries to play amid the coronavirus pandemic. MLB proposed on Tuesday a sliding scale salary reduction on top of the prorated salaries players have already accepted. The proposal, met with frustration and disappointment by the players’ union, called for severe pay cuts to the game’s highest-paid players and manageable financial cutbacks to lowest-paid players.
Angels superstar Mike Trout, MLB’s highest-paid player ($37 million/per year), would receive around $6 million under the league’s sliding-scale proposal, compared to the $19 million-plus he would receive prorated. Conversely, a minor leaguer called up to the majors for the first time would see his minimum salary of $563,500 decrease to $262,000.
“We have previously negotiated in the version of prorated salaries, and there’s no justification to accept a 2nd pay cut based upon the current information the union has received,” Scherzer said in a tweet. “I’m glad to hear other players voicing the same viewpoint and believe MLB’s economic strategy would completely change if all documentation were to become public.”
The players’ union recently submitted additional document requests to the league in search of information about local and national television revenue, sponsorship revenue and projections from teams, according to ESPN. The commissioner’s office and Players Association disagree on the amount of money the league would lose without gaterelated revenue.
The league does not open its books to the public, which makes declarations about how much a team earns or loses difficult to verify.
MLB wishes to start the shortened season in early July, with a three-week training period preceding it. That means the union and league must aim to reach an agreement on all financial and scheduling matters in the next week. If the league agrees to more than 100 games, that could mean the World Series is played after Thanksgiving.