Earlier in the day on Sunday, MLB reportedly offered the MLBPA a proposal to delay the start of spring practice and the season by one month, allow a season of 154 games, and give players a full reward of 162 games. offer.
According to a follow-up article in The athletic Written by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, there is reason to believe players will reject the competition’s proposal on Monday. If that does happen, it seems likely that spring practice will start on time in mid-February, with the Mets’ regular season starting April 1.
Several reasons are given why the players do not find the proposal acceptable. Among them are the following:
There is no guarantee that all 154 games will actually be played as the season would be compressed (although it would be two weeks longer than originally planned). If games are postponed for any reason, it’s harder to catch up. The commissioner could have the power to cancel, rather than postpone unplayed games, which could affect the proposal to pay full player salaries. The proposal does not provide an actual guarantee of full remuneration.
The players believe the delay could affect their typical training regimes and pave the way for injuries during the season.
The universal DH remains a bargaining chip and a point of contention between the two sides. The league is willing to offer a universal DH (which could result in some high-paying roles for players such as Marcell Ozuna and Nelson Cruz) in exchange for extensive playoffs. The MLBPA is not in favor of extended playoffs, as it fears the format would hinder teams from issuing to players as more teams would qualify for the postseason. The league is offering $ 80 million to the player pool for extended playoffs (the league put $ 50 million in the pool in the shortened 2020 season), which is the same amount as the 2019 season, the last full season played with fans in the stands .
And then there is the biggest problem of all: the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement (CAO) after the 2021 season and the need for extensive negotiation before the 2022 season. Players may be reluctant to agree to extended playoffs now ( seemingly the most important issue for the owners), and may prefer to keep that high-quality chip for use when the parties sit down to discuss a new CBA. In the next CBA, the players are expected to seek measures to increase overall competition, such as a reverse luxury tax that would effectively serve as a required floor on the team’s payroll.
If you’ve been a baseball fan for a while, you know the parties just don’t trust each other. As noted by Rosenthal and Drellich, the players are concerned that Commissioner Rob Manfred would be free to cancel games if the terms and conditions (COVID) are deemed unsafe, impose double headers, and otherwise implement measures that affect pay and service time of players. .
If the players decline the MLB offer, with the time so close to the expected start of spring training, it is unlikely that a new proposal can be made that will affect the start of camps. The DH issue could be agreed on before the start of the season, as well as extensive playoffs (the latter was agreed just before the start of the 2020 season).
It is almost inscrutable that we are 17 days away from pitchers and catchers, and there is still doubt about the reporting date and the rules under which the season will be played.
But then again, after the labor issues that have sickened the baseball landscape since the early 1970s, this may not come as much of a surprise.
