MLB owners move to open abbreviated season with July 1 report date
In an ideal world, major-league baseball owners and players would have come together during a difficult time and agreed to launch an abbreviated season.
Apparently, that was asking too much.
The two sides have been engaged in messy negotiations for weeks and did not come close to meeting somewhere in the middle.
Major League Baseball now plans to unilaterally issue a 60-game schedule for its shortest season since 1878 after the players' association rejected a negotiated deal of the same length, putting the sport on track for a combative return to the field amid the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the Major League Baseball Players Association rejected a proposed 60-game schedule by a 33-5 vote.
Commissioner Rob Manfred is now authorized to implement a season of 60 games, at prorated pay. The MLBPA was hoping for a regular season of at least 70 games at prorated pay.
MLB issued a statement Monday night:
"Today, the Major League Baseball Players Association informed us that they have rejected the agreement framework developed by commissioner Manfred and (MLBPA executive director) Tony Clark. Needless to say, we are disappointed by this development. The framework provided an opportunity for MLB and its players to work together to confront the difficulties and challenges presented by the pandemic. It gave our fans the chance to see an exciting new postseason format. And, it offered players significant benefits including:
1. The universal DH for two years.
2. A guaranteed $25 million in playoff pools in 2020.
3. $33 million in forgiven salary advances that would increase the take home pay of 61% of Major League players.
4. Overall earnings for players of 104 percent of prorated salary.
5. Over the last two days, MLB agreed to remove expanded postseason in 2021 in order to address player concerns.
"In view of this rejection, the MLB clubs have unanimously voted to proceed with the 2020 season under the terms of the March 26th agreement. The provisions listed above will not be operative. In order to produce a schedule with a specific number of games, we are asking that the Players Association provide to us by 5:00 p.m. (ET, Tuesday) with two pieces of information.
"The first is whether players will be able to report to camp within seven days (by July 1st). The second is whether the Players Association will agree on the Operating Manual which contains the health and safety protocols necessary to give us the best opportunity to conduct and complete our regular season and postseason."
Earlier Monday, the MLBPA issued a statement of its own:
"The MLBPA executive board met multiple times in recent days to assess the status of our efforts to resume the 2020 season. Earlier (Monday) evening, the full board reaffirmed the players' eagerness to return to work as soon and as safely as possible.
"To that end, we anticipate finalizing a comprehensive set of health and safety protocols with Major League Baseball in the coming days, and we await word from the league on the resumption of spring training camps and a proposed 2020 schedule."