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The Wuhan Virus is being wildly exaggerated by the media and should no effect on a shortened season.
Even the media has to work with numbers so I take the numbers as being indicative of the situation. Judging from what I see in my area, masks are not very common and cases are rising again – dramatically. I cannot see how a season can be conducted without some dropouts caused by the virus. It is a matter of how the players and MLB take it as to whether the season is ended early. Those who call this thing the flu have been proven wrong by the numbers but a vaccine would sure help guarantee a 2021 season.
As an aside, I continue to be amazed by the US Baseball Park in Ozark, Missouri. They have 7 rookie league teams going every day and have now added T-ball in the late afternoons. Peaked through the fence the other day and didn’t see a single mask. Evidently some of the college draftees are playing in the rookie league here until their minor league team can open (if they can open).
I don’t know anyone that has died of the Wuhan Virus and I only know 3 people who have had it. We are testing more, therefore, more cases. Positive tests do not equal actual sickness. The virus is mostly propaganda.
The virus is mostly propaganda?
Really? What an odd statement.Agree but I think we are skirting on politics here so better left to social media squabblers. I started this thread from what now seems like eons ago and I don’t want politics to kill it. PLAY BALL????
The virus is the main thing that will cancel the abbreviated 2020 season. It’s now on the upswing in 23 states. That’s fact, not propaganda. It’s a huge problem for MLB.
bccran – this was posted by GC on another thread. It’s worth a read, IMO.
OTOH – This was posted by BW on the same thread:
Bobby Guntoro @bobbygunt
8 days of high fever
18lbs of weight loss
Body ache + instense dry cough
14 days (and counting) total sick daysThis is considered mild.
Please wear your MASK and practice your social distancing. This is NOT OVER.
ps: I am okay and recovering nicely. Thanks to my wife! https://twitter.com/swimswamnews/status/1274428057340739584 …
Back to the subject of this thread… Whether or not we agree, this offers some insight into why the players rejected MLB’s last offer to modify the March agreement.
For people mad about the “When and Where”, the 60 games wasn’t without a caveat. Expanded postseason, universal DH, ability to file grievance are all chips. You don’t give all 3 of those things up for 12 extra games.
— Coach Trev (@trevorplouffe) June 22, 2020
A summary of the agreement (which is not final).
A few #MLB thoughts:
• The players didn't reject a deal to play baseball. They agreed to one in March, & rejected alterations to it.
• Rob Manfred's 60 game agreement was 10 more than many thought he would offer
• MLBPA gave up A LOT in order to maintain grievance power— Spotrac (@spotrac) June 23, 2020
someone please explain to the unaware (me) what exactly is a grievance? lawsuit? what? how would it work? any ideas?
The MLBPA would likely assert that MLB violated the March agreement by not in good faith trying to schedule as many games as possible and ask for damages, including lost wages for games not played.
The CBA Appendix B spells out Rules of Procedure for grievances. The following comes from a Fangraphs article…
“Those Rules are pretty lengthy, so here are the pertinent bits: the legal rules of evidence don’t apply, the arbitration panel sets its own standard of proof (in other words, how much evidence one side needs to present to win), and it’s possible to avoid a hearing altogether just by both sides agreeing to submit legal briefs. Also, there are three arbitrators: one selected by the MLBPA, one selected by MLB, and a neutral third party who is usually a lawyer with some experience in conflict resolution and who serves as the panel chair. That means that, as a practical matter, it’s the panel chair who decides these cases.
“It’s also really important to win the arbitration, because suing to overturn the result is really hard. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 2001 in a case called Major League Baseball Assn. v. Garvey that an arbitrator’s decision will be upheld so long as it isn’t the result of fraud, even if it is ‘silly.'”
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/what-the-mlbpas-grievance-means/
Perhaps better yet is to read this thread from an actual labor lawyer. (Freedman, not Bowden!) If I am reading it correctly, he seems to think there may not be a grievance.
I explain it in this thread, along with what a grievance is and is not and why the current situation is actually a win-win based on today's circumstances. https://t.co/Gan9mA8sXj
— eugenefreedman.bsky.social (@EugeneFreedman) June 23, 2020
Since the players are only receiving 37% of their normal salaries this year does that mean the Cardinals will only owe 37% of the $4M they owe to Mike Leake?
The Mike Leake question is interesting because it brings up a couple other points to me. He is still playing and is under contract, so yes, it seems the Cards would pay only the prorated amount.
What about deferred salary for guys like Bonilla, Holliday, Sutter, Griffey, Strawberry, etc.? It would seem this year’s situation would have no impact on deferred payments.
The situation that’s less clear to me is about players who are owed salary for this year, but are no longer obligated to play games this year to receive their salary. I’m talking about guys who were given unconditional releases and were not picked up by other teams. Somebody like Luke Gregerson comes to mind, although I think he was owed money for just 2019 (not 2020). Anyway, the point is the same and I am sure somebody fits this situation for this year.
A bit of good news for the lower-paid major leaguers, and teams are kept whole as well.
Players who received an advance in April and May that is total to more than their prorated salary during the 2020 season do *not* have to pay anything back. Teams get their money back from a joint fund between the MLB and the MLBPA.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) June 25, 2020
Teams get their money back from a joint fund between the MLB and the MLBPA.
After being laundered from price increases to fans.
Not condoning the language, but the point being made is too important to pass over…
absolutely wild* how now that a schedule has been implemented, like 40% of teams have immediately been like "oh, no we're planning on getting butts into seats" when the entire negotiating premise was "THAT ENTIRE PORTION OF OUR REVENUE IS GONE, ASSHOLES"
*predictable
— Crank Mountain (@cdgoldstein) June 25, 2020
Time to move past that,IMO. It would be nice if they could get butts in the seats because it would make people feel like another step is being taken toward a return to some kind of normal.(BTW, it’s clear that both sides, owners and players, have way more money than anybody needs. This thing was never really about money.)
mud said:
it’s clear that both sides, owners and players, have way more money than anybody needs.
Owners, yes. Some players, yes. Many players, certainly not. These groups are not close to being equivalent.
mud said:
This thing was never really about money.
Yes, it was absolutely about money.
P.S. I think it is great if owners can lose less this year. I also think it is great that if fans want to go to games that they may be able to. That is not the issue. Under the March agreement, Manfred could have started the season any time the owners wanted. Instead, the owners dragged their feet for weeks because they did not want to pay the players at the rate already agreed to in March, with a key part of their platform the assertion that fans would not be allowed this season. That stance now seems less than honest, and likely the players suspected it.
Bottom line, the fans of baseball lose because we only get 60 games this season.
Multiple asterisks next to this season. There will be no legitimacy in division, league, or world champions.
The starting salary for an MLB player is $563,500. You see what you want to see, you hear what you want to hear. Enough said as far as I am concerned.
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