MLB commissioner Rob Manfred surprised baseball fans on Monday when he said he is not confident there will be a 2020 season, but star pitcher Trevor Bauer believes he has a full understanding of the motivation behind the remarks.
Almost immediately after Manfred said he is “not confident” there will be an MLB season this year, Bauer took to Twitter to unload on the commissioner. Bauer essentially said Manfred’s goal is to stall time before launching the 2020 season, that way the league can justify having as short of a season as possible.
isn’t it Rob? Because then you’d have to explain why you’re only going to impose 50 games when we could easily play 70+ right now. The tactic is to bluff with “no season” again and delay another 2-3 weeks until you clear the risk of “not negotiating in good faith by trying to
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
obvious to everyone what you were trying to do. And no one would think that was a “representative season” so you’d risk not getting your precious playoff money. Nope, can’t have that. So gotta make it more than that. But not too many…you’ve gone as high as about 55 games full
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Be at least 4 off days in there…so that’s 64 days. Plus about 20 for spring training…84 days. Sept 27-84 days is July 5. Plus about a week to get players to spring training. So tack on another 7, that takes us to June 28. As I have it figured, that’s your deadline. But today
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
You’re holding a losing hand. Unfortunately, it’s a losing hand for everyone involved, not just you. There’s some saying out there about not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Check it out on the ole google machine. It’s worth knowing.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Manfred said last week that he was certain there would be a season, so it would make sense if his change of stance is an effort to shift blame on the MLB Players Association. The owners have the ability to start the season and pay the players full pro-rated salaries per the terms of the agreement the two sides reached in March, but Manfred would determine the length of the season in that scenario.
Bauer is one of the most outspoken players in baseball, and he recently got into a heated Twitter debate with a former player about the state of the negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA. As Manfred said Monday, the fact that the two sides have not been able to come to an agreement is a terrible look for baseball.
