The last proposal from Major League Baseball got a response of "LOL" from Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen. Major League Baseball still pushes forward with proposals that will involve MLB players taking a pay cut from the pro-rated salaries that players agreed to in March. The latest counter-offer from the Major League Baseball Players Association refuses to budge from that.
Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported late Tuesday night that the MLBPA countered with another proposal: 89 games at full pro-rated pay:
One day after fielding Major League Baseball’s latest economic pitch for a pandemic-shortened season, the Players Association responded with an 89-game proposal at 100% of the prorated salaries to which they agreed in March, a source confirmed Tuesday night.
The players’ new plan is 25 games fewer than its previous one and 13 games more than the proposal made Monday by MLB. It also includes a provision for expanding the playoffs in 2020 and 2021 from 10 teams to 16 (eight per league), an arrangement the owners have pushed for strongly.
Lauber notes that the season would run from July 11 to October 11.
However, it appears that Major League Baseball will not budge from the season's end-date of September 27. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the television networks want to keep the playoff season intact. That would be important when it comes to revenues. So MLB and the MLBPA are getting closer on a number of games to play. In between 76 and 89 is 82, a number discussed in the past. Could the MLB and MLBPA agree on a deal for 82 at full pro-rated pay, with deferral of some salaries to help them balance the 2020 books?
They're getting closer. There is still plenty of work to do, though.
