Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have been trying for weeks to come to an agreement for the 2020 season, but the two sides cannot seem to find common ground.
On Wednesday, MLB proposed a 60-game regular season with full prorated salaries for players. The union countered the proposal on Thursday by asking for 70 games, which did not sound like a huge leap. However, the counter-offer was enough to anger team owners.
According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, MLB owners were given the impression that the two sides had agreed in principle to the 60-game season. When the MLBPA countered asking for 70 games, it reportedly angered owners.
Owners are not responding positively to players counterproposal. Owners believed they’d had a meeting of the minds and the number was 60 games.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 18, 2020
One owner’s response to players proposal today: “DOA”
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 18, 2020
Source on owners' side, asked whether today's MLBPA proposal might move toward resolution: "It went backwards."
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) June 18, 2020
MLB executive director Tony Clark issued a statement calling it “unequivocally false” that a tentative agreement was reached during Wednesday’s meeting.
Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark today released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/MNAVfzx75C
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 18, 2020
Players are only going to be paid for the number of games they play, which is why the MLBPA is seeking as long of a regular season as possible. Owners have argued that they are already losing too much revenue with fans not permitted to attend games, so they want fewer games. In the grand scheme, however, the optics are horrible for everyone involved.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday that the league and the union had the framework for an agreement in place, so it sounds as if owners were given the impression that players would agree to the 60 games. As has been the case for weeks now, they did not.
Some of baseball’s biggest stars have begun pressuring the two sides to come to an agreement, and the negotiations have already made the league as a whole look horrible.
