The ongoing battle between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association continues. This time, it was MLB offering another proposal to the players. It was not favorably met by the players, to say the least. The MLBPA has insisted from the start that they will not budge from a March 26 agreement to play for pro-rated salaries. The latest proposal includes just that.
Karl Ravisch of ESPN broke down the proposal:
MLB has made proposal to Players. 75 percent Prorated salary. 76 game season. Playoff pool money. No draft pick compensation for signing player. Season finishes September 27th. Post season ends at end of October. Significant move towards players demands and effort to play more.
— Karl Ravech (@karlravechespn) June 8, 2020
Despite this "movement towards player demands", the reception was not great.
Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen offered a succinct, but telling tweet:
Lol — andrew mccutchen (@TheCUTCH22) June 8, 2020
Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets that the players have until Wednesday to counter. But MLB is in a position to default back to a 48-game plan, where players are indeed paid according to a pro-rated amount of their salary. Baseball holds that in their back pocket. Passan notes that there is improvement compared to other offers:
Original offer: 82 games, players receive $1.03B in salary and $200M if playoffs are played.
Current offer: 76 games, players receive $989M in salary and $443M if playoffs are played, plus no direct draft-pick compensation. 48-game option: $1.03B in salary, no playoff money — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 8, 2020
Could the latter take place?
It seems clear that the MLBPA does not wish to move off of the pro-rated salaries promised to players in the March 26 agreement. The question will likely come down to how much of a loss MLB will be willing to take on a temporary basis to re-start baseball. Should baseball not begin over a labor dispute, the outrage from fans could lead them to pursue other active sports options with their dollar.