Monday was quite the whirlwind in terms of baseball news. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred declared that he is “not confident” that a 2020 season will take place — mere days after expressing how he was 100% positive that one would happen. Naturally, the MLB Players’ Association had a strong response to Manfred’s “threat” and the players did not remain silent, either. Many took to their own social media to express their frustrations, anger, and support of MLBPA’s response.
Noah Syndergaard expressed his thoughts through gifs:
https://t.co/XaTXvP38TW pic.twitter.com/6azwX8sFj4
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) June 15, 2020
The current state of Baseball pic.twitter.com/c6TGqhqWOr
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) June 16, 2020
Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso shared MLBPA’s statement, vocalizing their support and stressing that they are ready:
Couldn’t be more true https://t.co/Lscm6WkZnx
— Brandon Nimmo (@You_Found_Nimmo) June 15, 2020
Tell us when and where. WE ARE ALL READY. https://t.co/uw1QLVT7Zl
— Pete Alonso (@Pete_Alonso20) June 15, 2020
Max Scherzer had similar feelings to Alonso (and likely most fellow players):
Rob Manfred and the owners are walking back on their word…AGAIN. The fans do not deserve this. So I’ll say it one more time, tell us when and where.
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) June 16, 2020
Anthony Rizzo and Wilson Contreras expressed their frustrations:
What a JOKE 🙃
— Willson Contreras (@WContreras40) June 15, 2020
Tell us when and where! We are ready!
— Anthony Rizzo (@ARizzo44) June 16, 2020
Dustin Garneau called the commissioner out on his flip-flop:
It’s almost like this whole process has been a sham on your guys part from the get go. Dragging your feet for every proposal and turning down the option for playing more games, and Offering the same deal three times that would have us play games for free.
— Dustin Garneau (@dusgar13) June 15, 2020
Mike Tauchman did as well, in a more subtle way:
Have I been using “unequivocally” incorrectly all this time? https://t.co/2xNwyResS8
— Mike Tauchman (@MTauchman) June 15, 2020
And then there was Trevor Bauer, who really put things into perspective and didn’t hold back:
So, Rob, explain to us how you can be 100% sure that there’s going to be baseball but not confident there will be baseball at the same time? hmmm. What changed between those statements 🤔🤔 Players told you to set the season, but it’s too early to set the season right now,
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
isn’t it Rob? Because then you’d have to explain why you’re only going to impose 50 games when we could easily play 70+ right now. The tactic is to bluff with “no season” again and delay another 2-3 weeks until you clear the risk of “not negotiating in good faith by trying to
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
play as many games as possible”. The public backlash combined with potential of having to explain yourself in front of an arbitrator isn’t too appealing, is it? Let’s see…the way I have it figured you want to play between 50 and 60 games. Can’t make it 50 cuz that would be too
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
obvious to everyone what you were trying to do. And no one would think that was a “representative season” so you’d risk not getting your precious playoff money. Nope, can’t have that. So gotta make it more than that. But not too many…you’ve gone as high as about 55 games full
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Prorated salary, so you’ll probably settle somewhere around there, potentially a couple games higher than that to throw people off the scent, isn’t that right, Rob? So in that scenario, let’s see, sept 27 end date to protect playoff tv schedules, 60 ish games, going to have to
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Be at least 4 off days in there…so that’s 64 days. Plus about 20 for spring training…84 days. Sept 27-84 days is July 5. Plus about a week to get players to spring training. So tack on another 7, that takes us to June 28. As I have it figured, that’s your deadline. But today
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Is June 15, so how do you delay another 13 days? 🤔🤔🤔 guess we all got that answer today. Threaten to cancel the season. Threaten arbitration. Threaten grievances. All the while, hold the fans for ransom. Hold the future of the game for ransom. No one believes your bluff, bud.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
You’re holding a losing hand. Unfortunately, it’s a losing hand for everyone involved, not just you. There’s some saying out there about not killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Check it out on the ole google machine. It’s worth knowing.
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Mic. Dropped.
Many players showed their support, and agreement, of Bauer’s tweets, sharing them as well.
Since I would get in way too much trouble for speaking or having a voice…just read this for some intellect and knowledge! https://t.co/IRiSXxZOBh
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) June 15, 2020
If you’re a baseball fan and really want to know what’s going on. Look no further 👇🏻 https://t.co/2EvsVs0aPP
— Christian Yelich (@ChristianYelich) June 15, 2020
He’s smarter than I am 👇 https://t.co/1OIvoXcxRV
— Dustin Garneau (@dusgar13) June 15, 2020
Say it louder for the people in the back!! 🗣🗣🗣🗣 https://t.co/CzRMJW7kbv
— Anthony Alford (@ajalford_) June 15, 2020
Then the news of MLB players and staff testing positive for coronavirus dropped, which also brought out a response from the players, due to it’s uh convenient timing:
Good timing https://t.co/pbzIN3VWmJ
— Anthony Rizzo (@ARizzo44) June 16, 2020
Seems like weird timing https://t.co/C9mh3k3iYo pic.twitter.com/q9S8P5JnEa
— Jacob Faria (@JDFaria34) June 16, 2020
weird https://t.co/bDCZN0RMnM
— Ryan Weathers (@RyanDWeathers25) June 16, 2020
