Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
When two sides are trying to meet in the middle, proposals are typically cause for hope; they’re trying.
But with each offer that Major League Baseball and the Players Association exchange, the odds the two parties agree seem to get longer, and the odds Rob Manfred has to force in a very brief season get stronger.
On Monday came Major League Baseball’s third offer, going from an 82-game season to 50-ish to now 76, according to multiple reports. The union has been adamant that it already accepted prorated pay and will not accept further cuts; this time, players would earn up to 75 percent of their prorated pay, according to ESPN.
From an 82-game season with huge cuts to a 50-ish game season with full, prorated pay to a 76-game season with about 25 percent cuts, while the union offered a 114-game season with full, prorated pay. The owners are trying to think up other ways for players to accept cuts — this proposal includes pooled playoff money (as well as 16 total teams in the postseason) and no draft-pick compensation for losing a free agent next offseason, taking off an incentive for allowing free agents to walk. Each time, the union has reacted with frustration; the players want and believe they have the right to full, prorated pay.
The current proposal includes a Sept. 27 end to the regular season, thus limiting play into November, when there is feared a second wave of the coronavirus. The owners seem set on limiting play deeper into the year, and the players are set on receiving the full portion of their deals, which likely will lead to a very brief season.
Manfred believes the late March agreement allows him to enforce a season provided players receive their full prorated pay, thus a 50-ish-game season that starts mid-to-late July is becoming increasingly likely. It’s a last resort, and so many resorts are now gone, which bodes poorly for the 2021 CBA negotiations.