Morning Briefing: Major League Baseball Getting Closer to Return

Good morning Mets fans! Baseball could be on its way back as we received promising news from MLB Insider Jon Heyman, who reported that commissioner Rob Manfred and players union chief Tony Clark met face-to-face in Arizona and had a “productive meeting,” which was setup by Manfred.

Dr. Anthony Fauci also said that MLB should try to play “in the core summer months,” which would avoid having to play in October.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, Clark and Manfred met on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The union also agreed to waive any grievance once a deal is agreed upon, per Heyman.

While Heyman originally announced that a deal was being closed in on, several reports doused this claim.

However, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic revealed the MLB’s current proposal of 60 games in 70 days with full prorated salaries starting on July 19th and finishing on September 27th. This proposal includes expanded playoffs to 16 teams and a universal DH not only for 2020, but also 2021, and a $25 million postseason pool per Joel Sherman of The New York Post.

As ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweeted, it will take more than 60 games for a deal to get done. On a more positive note, progress has been made and it appears as though the hope of a 2020 season has now been revived.

As Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic informed us last night, the league felt they had a deal in place, but the union still won’t bite as they are pushing for more regular season games.

It was a wild day in the sport and one we have not experienced in quite sometime, so let’s take a look at what went on with the amazins’ and the rest of the league on Wednesday as we await further developments!

Latest Mets News

With his slot value sitting at $929,800. the Mets were able to sign their 2nd round comp pick Isaiah Greene for $850,000, per Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline.

Mississippi State Baseball coach Chris Lemonis says he expects second round pick J.T. Ginn to leave school and sign with the Mets, as he told Justin Toscano of The Record.

Per the Tampa Bay Times, Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman joined the Tampa Bay Heat 9U baseball team on Wednesday for a Q&A with the kids.

J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith answered fan questions on this week’s episode of the Cookie Club podcast.

Former Met Benny Agbayani joined SNY’s Baseball Night in New York to discuss the 2000 World Series and the time he forgot how many outs there were.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com looks at the best managers in Mets history.

Latest MLB News

Rob Manfred released a statement discussing the meeting which took place between he and Tony Clark encouraging both sides to continue to move forward with negotiations. (Tweet from ESPN’s Jeff Passan).

Florida senator Marco Rubio also spoke with Manfred and came away “cautiously optimistic,” that a season will happen.

As Bob Nightengale noted, if the MLB and the union reach an agreement by Friday, spring training will likely begin by June 29th with the season starting on July 19th.

Major League Baseball’s team and league employees fear for the future of the game after watching recent negotiations, writes Hannah Keyser of Yahoo Sports.

The players association has committed $1 million to assist minor league players during Covid-19 shutdowns, as Baseball America’s J.J Cooper tweeted.

The San Diego Padres are not expected to be disciplined by the MLB after a USA TODAY report named them as one of the teams, who violated international signing rules, per Dennis Lin of The Athletic.

Jason Heyward and Curtis Granderson joined CNN to discuss the MLB players recent Black Lives Matter video.

Super agent Scott Boras commented on the MLB’s recent multi-billion-dollar TV deal with Turner Sports calling it a “rectal thermometer,” which you can read more about in The New York Daily News.

Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser talks how teams are able to recruit undrafted players during these uncertain times.

Latest NL East News

Radio personality Chris “Mad Dog” Russo blasted Phillies star Bryce Harper for tweeting “tell us when and where” on social media amidst the fallout of negotiations between the MLB and Players Association.

The Miami Marlins released over 30 minor leaguers, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.