After paranoia was at an all-time high about whether there even would be baseball this season, things could finally be heading in the right direction.
Baseball insider Jon Heyman was the first to report that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred flew to Arizona to meet with players union chief Tony Clark on Wednesday. Heyman reported that the two had a “productive meeting” in regards to starting the season.
Now merely an hour after his initial report, Heyman broke the news that the MLB and the MLBPA are close to an agreement to play the 2020 season. According to his reporting, this deal would have the players finally getting their full prorated salaries. The agreement also would include expanded playoffs this season, giving the league more nationally televised games to recoup lost revenue.
Unfortunately as quickly as Heyman gave baseball fans some hope, other reporters began to conflict those reports, bringing everyone back down to Earth.
Evan Drellich of the Athletic was one of the first to refute Heyman’s report, saying that the MLB had just sent the player’s association a new proposal a short while ago, but no deal is agreed to in principal.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post also reported that no deal was agreed to in principal. He did however have a source that was involved with the meeting between Manfred and Clark who said that the, “rhetoric part of the program is over, and the real negotiations have begun.”
According to Jayson Stark of the Athletic, one of the biggest sticking points in starting the season is a fear amongst owners that they would play and still have to face a billion dollar grievance from the players. As Stark points out, if they play the season, there is a better chance that no grievance is filed. Also waiving a potential grievance could be a big piece of leverage in these talks.
Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic is reporting that the MLB’s new proposal to the players is for a 60-game season that would be played out over the course of a 70-day span. The season would begin on July 19th or the 20th and players would receive their full prorated salaries. There also would be expanded playoffs in 2020 and 2021 and players would have to waive any potential grievance.
The MLBPA Communications response to all of this news via their social media is to say that, “Reports of an agreement are false.”
The most important point to be taken away from all of this is the fact that the two sides have resumed talking. The meeting between Manfred and Clark was hopefully enough to align the two sides common interests, leading them to work together to agree on a new deal.
We will continue to monitor this situation and keep you posted if anything changes.
