MLB and the players are in a labor dispute over compensation for a shortened season, and at least one player pointed out some hypocrisy coming from the side of the league.
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty responded to a proposal from former MLB pitcher Dontrelle Willis, who suggested MLB play a season of 70-82 games and expand the playoffs. Flaherty took some shots at MLB in response, saying that the league was more concerned with cutting the pay of minor leaguers and other players taking pay cuts.
Flaherty pointed out that MLB’s sliding scale pay cut proposal would cut the pay of top earners like Mike Trout by around 70 percent. By comparison, he encouraged people to check what MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s pay cut is.
they too worried about making more money than about playing more games. worried about cutting minor league players or not paying them to save some money. trying to have Trout take a 70% pay cut. you can see what Robs “pay cut” is https://t.co/LyIsTy01Sr
— Jack Flaherty (@Jack9Flaherty) June 3, 2020
According to what ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweeted in April, Manfred and other senior staffers at MLB are taking pay cuts of around 35 percent on average.
In a memo sent to Major League Baseball staff this morning, commissioner Rob Manfred committed to paying league employees through at least May 31 and said senior staff at the league, including himself, will reduce their pay by an average of 35% for 2020.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 14, 2020
It just seems flat-out wrong to ask other highly-paid people to take significantly larger pay cuts than what senior league staffers are taking. That is the point Flaherty is making.
Flaherty, 24, was fourth in NL Cy Young voting last season and led the league with a 0.968 WHIP.
