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Even after they win seemingly every negotiation, owners still receive the benefit of what I have always felt was a illogically high level of fan support. If the players want to dig in, they have to essentially strike, which paints them as the bad guys, taking the game away from the fans. The mainstream media does not often take a balanced view, either, IMO. I think we can all see where this is going… either the players roll over yet again or they get savaged by the angry mob who care not about anything other than wanting to see baseball yesterday.
Maybe Congress can step in and force arbitration (and play) like they forced the minor leaguers to accept less than minimum wage pay. It’d be a welcome turn of fair play.
Funny you should mention Congress. How it is gridlocked due to extreme partisanship was cited in the arbitration article as a parallel to the deep trenches dug between MLB players and owners. So it would be ironic indeed if they somehow facilitate a solution. You did mean this year, right? 😉
I won’t be holding my breath. If anyone spends multiple millions to lobby Congress, it will be the owners again. Though it appears they miscalculated on minor leaguers as state wage laws supersede Federal laws, which is how the salary lawsuit is still alive and kicking. But that is another thread…
If the owners are financially better off not having a season, and the players are looking at grossing only 4% of their expected income this season…. Yep, the players will cave again, imo.
A large % of the players draw the near-minimum. That’s over a half-mil for a full service year, but what’s 4% of that with no season? 20K? There’s going to be some pressure within the membership to play. Even at a 25% reduction of the standard minimum pay, and then pro-rated to 82 games, you’ve added another zero to that 20K.
It will be interesting to see what happens given the huge diversity among the players. All players’ votes may not be equal. The big boys already got $5,000 per day over the last two months that they don’t have to repay. Surely that can tide them over if need be. The young guys tend to get the short end of the stick – even the ones in the union.
P.S. But the owners surely know if they can drive a wedge between union members, they will ultimately benefit.
Funny you should mention Congress. How it is gridlocked due to extreme partisanship was cited in the arbitration article as a parallel to the deep trenches dug between MLB players and owners. So it would be ironic indeed if they somehow facilitate a solution. You did mean this year, right? 😉
I won’t be holding my breath. If anyone spends multiple millions to lobby Congress, it will be the owners again.
I did mean this year, yes. And I agree that it would be ironic, but if there was a time to step in, now would be it. People could really use something to focus on besides crabby politicians and sickness and fear. It would be a great public service to have sports back on the table, and the risk to the players is extremely low. If some of them are worried and don’t want to play, that’s fine.
I just don’t think the public has any sympathy for millionaires arguing with billionaires over *our* money at a time when so many are truly putting themselves on the front lines, and so many others are suffering the loss of jobs and financial security. Even if baseball lost a few billion dollars this year, they’d make it back next year under normal circumstances. The rest of us wouldn’t be so lucky.
A compromise that, IMO, would actually strengthen the union and still satisfy the owners would be an agreement where players who are scheduled to receive a certain amount, say $1M, would get their full prorated salary, and players scheduled to receive more than that would get an amount based on revenue. It will never happen, though, because the union is run by Boras and a handful of big name agents. BTW, that’s why the union is so opposed to a salary cap in any form, IMO. A salary cap limits the amount of money available for the mega-contracts which is where the agents get the big money.
#Angels owner Arte Moreno could spend $1 million every day for the next three years and still have more than $2.2 billion to his name.
The #MLBPA does a poor job of framing baseball's labor discussions. It should feel like we have something in common. https://t.co/WBasgvKBxi
— Bill Koch (@BillKoch25) May 24, 2020
It would be interesting if all players give up money now to protect the relatively fewer free agents and arbitration eligible players this winter.
MLB plans to offer alternative proposal to players on salaries. Players mulling possibility of deferrals. Some agents advocate trade-off of pay reductions for financial protection this offseason. Story with @EvanDrellich: https://t.co/uotQWfWizg
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 25, 2020
I don’t understand why people are troubled by how much money some billionaire has accumulated. All I care about straightening out things that are out of whack and still happening in the present. There’s too much money being thrown around in baseball. Lower salaries and getting rid of megacontracts, lower profits, and lower ticket prices are what need to happen.
Here’s a quote attributed to Chuck Tanner which puts things into perspective, IMO:
‘You can have money piled to the ceiling but the size of your funeral is still going to depend on the weather.’
Yogi had the funeral thing figured out when he said you better go to their funerals, or they won’t come to yours.
Koch’s lamenting of Moreno’s net worth is probably his way of expressing the core values he lives daily. I bet he doesn’t give the babysitter just $15 an hour. He probably gives $50 or more an hour if he thinks his net worth is more than the sitter’s. Does he tip the waiter $20 on a $100 meal? Nah, it’s probably more like $75 if he thinks he’s worth more than the waiter.
It would be interesting if all players give up money now to protect the relatively fewer free agents and arbitration eligible players this winter.
Brain, did you mean to say this?
It would be interesting if all players give up money now to protect the agents this winter.
Seriously, I wonder if the agents would benefit the most.
I think the players would be smart to give the owners what they want for 2020 in exchange for getting what the players want in the next CBA. Probably not enough time to hammer all of that out though.
Owners have to get their agreements in place before going to the players…
MLB owners are holding a phone call today and are expected to vote on a formal financial proposal before sending it to the players union for their consideration. Folks are expecting a gap to remain but seem cautiously optimistic in advance of the presentation of the proposal.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 26, 2020
Divide union membership? Wondering how this will go over with Yadi, for example? Take a big cut now and then get whacked again this fall as a free agent.
Guessing this, too, will be a non-starter. Canny move by ownership to paint the biggest earners – who usually happen to be union leaders – as bad guys/obstructionists while also saving themselves the most money.
— Gabe Lacques (@GabeLacques) May 26, 2020
Most private businesses are requiring salary cuts to the highly compensated employees. Seems like MLB should be able to come up with something equitable.
The company I was last contracting with (my gig ended a week ago Friday) was cutting the top exec’s by 50%, and then proportionally less the lower the employee’s salary/wage.
Owner’s depend on games, so obviously they are taking a significant cut. Perhaps a similar sliding scale wage cut for players would be appropriate, with the minimum wages guys having no cut, no salary would be below minimum wage, and guys over say $20M per year cut at 25%, with a salary floor on each bracket so guys on the lower cusp of the break point are not getting a lower salary than guys on the upper cusp of that same break point.
I have no idea on the economics of that and whether or not it would work, but something along a sliding scale wage bracket would seem to be reasonable.
Manfred and senior MLB execs took a 30 percent pay cut earlier. However, if team executives have done anything (other than buy expensive new houses!), I’ve seen no reference to it. MLB is so different from a typical business, I am not sure how valid comparisons can be made. I get that MLB teams have short-term liquidity issues, but it would be impossible to envision any of them being at risk of bankruptcy. It is not like when businesses are applauded for enacting pay cuts to avoid mass layoffs. That is not the tradeoff for MLB. To personalize it, should Yadi take a further pay cut to help out Bill DeWitt, who in 2020 may be in line to lose money for probably the first time in the quarter century plus that he has owned the team? If so, why? Tough questions without easy answers.
P.S. Having said that, I expect the majority of fans will roast the players if they do not accept whatever MLB offers them. Most fans seem to not care about details, and just want to see games played. The owners know this and can use it to their advantage.
Next move, players…
MLB owners had a 1 pm ET conference call and approved an adjusted pay plan to be presented to the players that includes a sliding payscale if 82-game season begins without fans on 7/4. @Sportico @soshnick @mlb @MLB_PLAYERS
— Barry M. Bloom (@Boomskie) May 26, 2020
To correct my earlier post, it appears two teams, the Brewers and Pirates, have some kind of executive pay cuts, though there are no specifics. Another team, the Indians, will accept “voluntary” pay cuts from “senior staff members”. I wonder how that is going? Others mention they are cutting pay of higher paid employees without specifically mentioning team executives, so they could be included, too. Hard to tell.
29 of 30 teams committed to paying their baseball operations employees through May 31. With that date fast approaching, here is what teams have planned once June begins https://t.co/6jdZCiqjDW
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) May 26, 2020
The MLBPA is very disappointed with MLB’s economic proposal today, source tells me and @Ken_Rosenthal, calling additional cuts proposed “massive." League offered to share more playoff revenue, but on balance, those dollars are small compared to what players give up, PA believes.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 26, 2020
The owners major concern last week was that another spike of covid-19 could wipe out the postseason dollars. So they offer massive cuts to the regular season and offer the risky revenue sharing of possible postseason dollars. Doesn’t appear the owners want games, but a scapegoat would be convenient.
“Players turn down …..”
It may just not be money. The players may choose health and safety as their battleground if they want to try to keep public support.
MLB and the MLBPA are far apart on salary issues. But I'm also hearing that a big gap remains on health and safety protocol, too.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) May 26, 2020
In other words, MLB wants roughly half again, as the players already gave up half. The first cut already agreed to would have taken him to $18 MM.
Exact percentages in MLB proposal aren’t known, but people involved estimate the best-paid stars — Trout, Cole, Verlander, Scherzer, etc — might make about 20-30 percent of their full salary over 82 games plus postseason. So for Cole, for instance, that’d be not 36M but about 9M
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 26, 2020
The ways things are developing, spike or no spike things are going back to as near normal as possible meaning that crowds will be reappearing for sports games probably by August, schools will start and possibly college football will also start. You can see that people are just tired of being locked up. For me, I am an old fart so I take responsibility for myself and my wife. Let the young folks have a go at it and if they get the virus the chances of recovery are extremely high for those below about 45 or 50. The vaccine talks are getting pretty hot and heavy now as well as some treatment drugs. But if baseball is not played this season it will be either because of negotiations breaking down or people just afraid to attend. Judging from what we saw at Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend, lots of people are willing to take the risk.
This is a joke offer.
MLB proposal: players making $563,500 minimum would make $262,217. Star making $35M would make $7,843,363 including postseason bonuses. (More to come)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) May 27, 2020
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