New plan lifts hopes of baseball by July 20

NEW YORK — After days of angry exchanges over money between Major League Baseball and the players’ association, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred started to doubt whether there would be a 2020 season and said as much on national television.

He then called union head Tony Clark and offered to fly from New

York to Arizona to meet for the first time in three months.

They spoke one-on-one for hours Tuesday in a room at

The Westin Kierland Resort &

Spa in Scottsdale and emerged with what

MLB considers a framework to play the pandemic-delayed season in empty ballparks, not just a proposal.

The plan includes full prorated pay, even if games are played in empty ballparks, people familiar with the details told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because details were not announced.

Each team would play 60 games over 10 weeks starting July 20, though a Sunday opener on July 19 could be added. The framework would result in players receiving about 37% of their salaries and would come to roughly $1.48 billion from salaries originally totaling $4 billion.

Baseball’s postseason would expand from 10 teams to 16 this year, and the two wild-card games would transform into an eight-team wild-card round with bestof-three series. That would create a minimum of 14 new playoff games whose broadcast rights could be sold, and MLB would have the option of 14 or 16 postseason teams in 2021.

MLB would guarantee a $25 million postseason players’ pool, creating postseason shares for players in the event no tickets are sold.

The designated hitter would expand to all games for the first time, also involving games between National League teams, for 2020 and 2021.

Both sides would contribute jointly to initiatives for social justice.

Players with so-called split contracts, who get paid at a lower salary rate when sent to the minor leagues, would not have to repay the advance they already have received: $16,500, $30,000 or $60,000, depending on their contract.

MLB considers it a framework for each leader to sell to each side. The union did not comment.

“At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours [Tuesday] in Phoenix,” Manfred said in a statement Wednesday. “We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents.

“Consistent with our conversations, I am encouraging the clubs to move forward, and I trust Tony is doing the same.”

The union’s last offer on June 9 was for an 89-game schedule at full prorated pay, which would result in 55% of salaries and about $2.2 billion.

Top stars Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole would each get about $13.33 million under

MLB’s latest plan and $19.78 million under the union proposal. A player with a $1 million salary would get $370,370 under the club plan and $549,383 under the players’ proposal. The $563,500 minimum would be worth $208,704 under MLB’s plan and $309,577 under the union’s.

The union also would waive additional claims that could cause an expensive grievance.

Manfred and Clark got into such detail during the meeting they recessed for a period to allow Manfred to consult with owners on MLB’s labor policy committee.

After considering the framework, players could counter with a higher amount of games, perhaps by adding doubleheaders.

Before this week, Manfred and Clark had not met since March 13-14 in Arizona, the two days after spring training was suspended due to the coronavirus.

Manfred maintained last week he was “100%” sure there would be a season, but after angry exchanges last weekend he said Monday “there’s real risk” of no season.

Manfred

Clark