If you love baseball, support the players' side
How did we get here?
Well … COVID-19 blew up baseball (and all sports, really) two weeks before the season was supposed to start. spring training was shuttered, everyone went home, and we were all under quarantine to prevent the spread of a global pandemic.
MLB and the MLBPA reached what’s called the “March agreement.” Owners advanced $170 million for April and May with the caveat that if there’s no season, the money will be kept by the players. There were other compromises, too, such as the draft being shortened for to five rounds for 2020, shortened to 20 rounds for 2021, and a tweak to arbitration rules.
These were probably the last things anyone agreed on.
The owners claim there’s language in the agreement that allows them to renegotiate players’ salaries in good faith should the season be played without fans. No strength of electron microscope can locate this language, however.
This disagreement is causing the most issue between players and owners, as the players have assumed this was all a done deal in March but owners have come back saying they want to cut salaries even more. Ownership is also leaking irresponsibly, with various items about how much money they’re losing, how they can’t afford to pay the players, and, generally, “oh, poor us owners of baseball teams, we’re so poor.”
So of course, like every conversation of the offseason, things are centered around money.
Money, money, money
The media loves reporting on the giant, splashy signings of the offseason because winter is a dead space of baseball news (unless the Astros get caught cheating again). We get the blockbuster contract details of Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Manny Machado. Unlike other leagues, MLB doesn’t have a salary cap (there is the luxury tax that serves as a soft cap, but it only applies to the HAVES in baseball, perhaps 10% of teams). Media reporting on the most giant player salaries end up framing it as a “millionaires and billionaires” sport, which causes fans to feel less sympathetic toward players.
Something you don’t hear a lot about are rookie contracts, single-season player contracts, or split-season contracts (for those AAAA players who straddle the season between the majors and minors). For what it’s worth, the minimum salary for 2020 is $563,000. Player salaries come semi-monthly installments that begin with “the commencement of the championship season … and end with the termination of the championship season” (pages 337-38 of the CBA, yeah I read it so you don’t have to). Basically that means players get paid at the start of the season through the end, just like teachers (but without having to buy their own classroom supplies). Meanwhile, the owners have been telling us how they’re going to lose SO MUCH MONEY: $4.4 billion, if you can believe it. Our friends at FanGraphs broke that one down for us and explained why those claims are not entirely true. How much can we believe about the league crying poor, anyway?
MLB made a reported $10.7 billion in 2019. The Marlins generated the lowest amount of revenue in 2019, with $222 million (and a $56 million payroll), with the Yankees sitting at the top of the mountain by generating $683 million. In the midst of COVID fighting, the news of a billion-dollar TV rights deal with Turner Networks leaked out mere days ago.
The latest
The last MLB proposal included a 72-game season, beginning July 14 and ending September 27, with the addendum that there wouldn’t be a 2020 season unless players waived legal claims against the league (fun fact: regular workplaces are trying this tactic, too, so it’s not just baseball diamond employees who are subject to this skullduggery).
Source: Twitter @BillShai
Needless to say, all of this invoked the final, masterstroke missive from the MLBPA that ended with “It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where”:
Source: Twitter @MLBPA_News
This led to Manfred stating he’s “less confident” about a 2020 season (walking back comments mere days earlier, when he guaranteed baseball would be played this year). Manfred has tried to call out the MLBPA’s missive as a “decision to end good faith negotiations,” which in turn rightly pissed off the players. Conveniently, it’s also come out this week that several players and staff have tested positive for COVID-19. MLB then told the players’ union that they think it might be unsafe to start the season early even if they soon reach an agreement.
Unless there was a sudden rash of positive tests in MLB last week (unlikely), this is something MLB has known about and sat on until it was convenient for them to use the information.
So now what?
Manfred is calling the whole thing a disaster. Twitter is calling for Manfred’s head. We shouldn’t have commissioners of sports that hate the sport. What’s Curtis Granderson doing? Can we replace Manfred with him?
This boils down to owners not managing the ridiculous amount of money they’ve made over the last few seasons in order to anticipate a stoppage. Knowing the CBA is up in 2021, they should have been prepared for a strike, or any sort of delay like today's. Corporations run scenarios like this all the time to plan for economic downturns; it’s not unreasonable to expect baseball owners to do the same.
Most teams have never had to manage a down season, because they make money hand over fist. While they’re still making money from the TV deals, they’re losing money on the tickets they have to refund and in-stadium point of sales. Teams generate plenty of money even in a down economy; my only guess is that owners are reinvesting in non-liquid assets. Now ownership want the players to bail them out by assuming more risk. Owners aren’t the ones on the field risking their health and their family's health, the players are.
Owners are going to beg players to come back to negotiate, lest the players file a grievance (and win). The MLBPA called the owners out to force them to figure their sh*t out.
While it would be easy for someone to find fault on both sides of the negotiating table, I can’t fault the players here. The owners are forcing them into a tough spot. Players are paid per game, and owners are attempting to stall out to a shorter season. If an agreement can’t be reached, Manfred will need to decide if he wants to force a season and risk a grievance. If he can’t get 75% of owners to agree to a schedule, he can cancel the 2020 season.
If you love baseball and want it back, don’t fault the players. Support the players. MLB hasn’t been negotiating in good faith, and we were going to see this when the CBA was up anyway; it’s just starting a lot sooner. Apply pressure to the ownership. Don’t let them blame the players. Don’t let Manfred convince you both sides are at fault. It’s ownership’s responsibility to accept the reality of their financial situation. It’s not the player’s fault that they want to be paid.
Remember, baseball cannot be played without the players.