The Major League Baseball Players Association is considering an MLB proposal to delay the start of the 2021 season, and if the union doesn’t offer a counter offer early next week, spring practice will likely begin. As scheduled, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN in mid-February.
After months of fragmented dialogue, the parties are in a similar position to last year, when the coronavirus pandemic closed the season: they disagreed on the right way forward. The league’s proposal to delay the start of spring practice until the end of March and the start of the season until the end of April includes a 154-game schedule in which players would pay their full 162-game salary, according to sources.
The proposal concerns the MLBPA on multiple fronts, players and union sources told ESPN. As pitchers have increased their willingness to start spring practice around February 17, they are reluctant to stop and start over for the proposed spring practice on March 22 for a season that would begin April 28, sources said. Additionally, players believe that the language in the proposal would give Commissioner Rob Manfred more power than he currently has to cancel games, potentially lowering players’ pay.
The competition does not agree with that interpretation. While Manfred was entitled, under the March 26 agreement reached by the parties in the wake of the early days of the pandemic last year, to cancel games or stop the sport, something he thought amidst the first outbreaks, he never started that season. The proposal, League sources said, aims to protect MLB from a deteriorating national situation, be it a vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 or an unexpected spike in cases.
The language, sources say, gives Manfred the right to act when government restrictions prevent more than five teams from playing at the same time, when travel is restricted, or when “competitive integrity is undermined” by incumbent players. Because of COVID-19. . Both sides, the sources said, would retain their right to take legal action. Disagreements about the breadth of the language can change if the parties continue to negotiate.
MLB’s desire to delay the season, according to league sources, is based on the recommendation of health experts and the likelihood that this could allow the 2021 season to take place when COVID-19 cases have declined, particularly in Arizona, which is currently the highest rates in the country and where half of the league has spring training. Cases in Arizona and Florida have recently been turned down, and health officials expect them to decline further between now and the start date of the proposal.
The possibility of a deal is possible, but the hostility and distrust between the parties is so deep that sources have doubts about the likelihood of a deal. Something as simple as the timing of the offer is a point of contention. League officials were frustrated by the union when it rejected the possibility of a postponement in December unless players were paid for 162 games, something the league believes it has agreed to in its proposal. In messages sent by player representatives on Sunday to union supporters, obtained by ESPN, they called the proposal so close to spring training a “tactic” of MLB.
The last deal the parties struck led to months of back and forth when the 2020 season should begin, and Manfred eventually rolled out a 60-game season when they couldn’t come to an agreement. Both sides accused the other of bad faith, and the remnants of those negotiations remain palpable today as baseball learns what the 2021 season will look like.
The executive board of eight players and the union’s player representatives were informed of the bid released on Friday, according to the sources, and were skeptical of the road to a deal. They believe, the sources said, that because players are entitled to 162 games under the collective bargaining agreement, the terms of the offer – which include expanding the post-season from 10 to 14 teams and adding the designated hitter to it team – will be. they don’t offer enough to delay the season.
In the absence of an agreement, there are two options.
The first and most likely, according to sources, would be that teams and players would show up at the training sites in the spring on the dates to be reported and continue as planned. The other is that Manfred is invoking the national emergency clause in the collective bargaining agreement and suspending the player’s uniform contract – a possibility, but one that would ensure that the parties face each other in court, a prospect that both is not attractive, the sources said.
MLB’s desire to postpone the season has been clear for months. There are nearly twice as many daily cases of COVID-19 today as there were on July 24, 2020, when MLB’s 60-game season began. The possibility of an outbreak affecting individual teams remains acute. The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals missed long periods last year due to outbreaks and had to put double rounds on their schedule to get closer to their full game number.
It’s not just fear of an outbreak fueling owners’ desire to delay the season. This would allow the further spread of the coronavirus vaccine and increase the likelihood of fans going to stadiums and local health officials allowing more fans into stadiums. In talks with the union, the league claimed it had lost billions of dollars last season, a figure that has not been verified. Since the income from regular seasonal stadiums was non-existent in 2020, the income was definitely down.
The frustration surrounding what MLB considered a reasonable compromise was palpable on Sunday. Discussions with the union are fragmented and on this point, two players said, it is likely too late in the process to reach an agreement. While the players said they recognize that a slowdown can be pragmatic, if some players are already in the cities for spring training – and everyone has a house they should cancel, which would likely cost thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars – isn’t practical. .
“We are ready to play,” said one player. “The NFL is playing. The NBA is playing. The NHL is playing. The colleges are playing. Why shouldn’t we play?”
The NBA shortened the season by 10 games in early November, about three weeks before the training camps opened and six weeks before the first games were played. The NHL shortened the season by about a third. Both came from shortened seasons that ended later than usual. The MLB-season ended in time after an extended postseason, something the league would like to implement again.
The union has expressed skepticism, worried that the expansion of the playoffs will have a negative effect on the free agent market, as teams are more likely to play for a win in the 1980s than they were in the 1990s. an extended post season, in this case three wildcard series in each competition, is better for the long-term health of the sport. In the proposal, MLB guaranteed a fund of $ 80.9 million for players who entered the post-season.
It’s imperative to get to that point, of course, and the league believes that a delay makes it more likely, and that players are more likely to play scheduled matches to receive their full pay. In the absence of a deal, the extended playoffs could be off the table until 2022, and the universal designated hitter, seven-inning double games and a running back from second base in overtime would be in the air.