CASH UPBEAT ABOUT A DEAL
Yank GM says 'where there's a will there's a way' in having
TAMPA — Brian Cashman is optimistic there will be a 2020 MLB season, eventually. The Yankees GM said that like everyone else in the country, baseball is trying to figure out what it will look like in the post coronavirus pandemic world. Speaking on a Zoom call for charity Thursday morning, he said that there are many issues for baseball and the players union to navigate, but he is optimistic.
“I don’t represent the players and the Players Association,” Cashman said. “I see there’s a lot of hurdles that everyone’s trying to navigate here and certainly trying to find common ground appropriately with the Players Association… and the Commissioner of Baseball and his team are having honest, frank conversations and negotiations with that.
“I’m optimistic that where there’s a will there’s a way. We all in this country are trying to find a way to get up and running. So, you see how that manifests itself and whether it’s the local restaurants changing how they go about doing their business,” Cashman explained. “So we’ve all found ways to adjust and make adjustments.. as we continue to, you know, this great country and continue to navigate. You know, this COVID experience moving forward it’s incumbent upon all of us to find a way.
“So I trust that all leadership involved will find a way within our industry just like everybody’s trying to do in their own respective industries as well. So that doesn’t promise anything, but am I optimistic? I am optimistic.”
The league and players union continued to talk on Thursday, trying to lay the groundwork for a 2020 season that could begin in early July. Early talks focused on the health and safety risks of restarting a season while there is still a shortage of testing materials and we are at least months away from vaccine.
But the headlines from the negotiations have largely focused on the financials. Owners, who claim they will lose money with a loss of games and with no fans in the ballparks when games do resume, are asking players to now take a 50-50 revenue split. In March, players had already agreed to a prorated salary scale, which in the current plan with a projected 82 games comes down to just under a 50% pay cut.
The players called that salary cap suspicions and bad blood from previous collective bargaining agreements resurfaced regarding what is actually “revenue,” since teams now have so many other areas of income, including regional sports networks, etc.
Rays 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell suggested sitting out the 2020 season.
“Bro, I’m risking my life,” the left-hander said on Twitch Wednesday night.“What do you mean it should not be a thing? It should 100% be a thing. If I’m gonna play, I should be getting the money I signed to be getting paid. I should not be getting half of what I’m getting paid because the season’s cut in half, on top of a 33% cut of the half that’s already there — so I’m really getting, like, 25%.”
Snell was due $7 million this season.
And the risks are real. Not only are the players risking themselves to the unknown long term effects of a disease that scientists are just learning about, but players are also risking injury in a shortened season. Just last week, Yankees doctor Chris Ahmad warned enthusiasm for getting back and shortened preparation could lead to an increase in Tommy John surgeries.
Cashman sees the negotiations as about more than just money.
“Well I know Major League
Baseball has been working extremely hard, as all the individual clubs, to come up with best practices. From my understanding, the very first conversation, didn’t involve economics at all,” Cashman said. “It was more, ‘How are we going to keep the employees, from players to coaches to support staff and travel parties and etc, safe.’
“And that’s been the initial prime focus of trying to share that information of how can we as an industry. Create a safe environment, because that’s the only way it’s going to work,” Cashman said. “Just like every business out there is coming up with new best practices, we are researching about the best hygiene care… and obviously continuing to practice social distancing and making certain adjustments as we enter this new world that we are dealing with.
“Baseball is no different, even though it’s a sport,” Cashman continued. “It might have other challenges. Everybody has a unique challenge, but each industry is trying to find a way to adjust in this COVID environment. So we can move forward.”
Cashman is encouraged by the length and depth of the negotiations.
“I think we just have to give everybody involved in that process the time to discuss it, work through it and try to find comfort levels, if they can exist,” Cashman said. “And if they aren’t able to, they won’t be able to. But I do think that the first steps are trying to educate each other with what is the ability to keep our employees safe, not just players but staff and all parties that are involved.”