Negotiations Between MLB & MLBPA after COVID-19 Halt

After COVID-19 how has the MLB potential 2020 season return-to-play plan has looked like? It’s been a month that talks have been going on, but there isn’t any final call on this from both sides — MLB & MLBPA. The recent development took place when the league sent a fresh proposal to the MLBPA for approval. Immediately after the proposal came in — there was a rush of disappointment chats flooding in from players. The proposal said that the highest-paid players would have to suffer the most pay cuts and the least paid players would either earn the complete amount of their prorated salaries or may have to suffer minor deductions.

This negotiation between MLB & MLBPA kicked off talks on May 12. This came in two months after the game got suspended in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. The league has still not come to any conclusive agreement. The season is slated to begin in July with an extended playoff format. A complete list of safety majors and protocols have also been proposed. Let’s have a look at how these negotiations have taken place since it began.

Timeline for the MLB-MLBPA return-to-play Negotiations:

May 11 — Before the Negotiation began: An 82-game, an expanded postseason with 14 teams, and an expanded roster season — were approved.

May 12 — Day 1 of the Negotiation: There was no discussion on money and revenue-sharing plans. The March deal for prorated salaries to be paid to the players based on the number of games they are playing for the 2020 season was settled.

May 14 — Day 2 of the Negotiation: Universal DH Agreements. Players looked to agree to the universal DH for the 2020 season. This was to relieve pitchers hitting and running obligations. The game will be played with the expanded roaster. During a twitch streaming, Blake Snell reacts to the 50-50 revenue split.

May 16: Day 3 of the negotiations: Safety protocol proposal leaks. Players’ compensation has been on top of this, negotiation with safety being the other. Highlights from the 67-page testing and safety protocol get published. This MLB protocol includes plans for travel, testing, and other important topics.

May 18 — Day 4 of the negotiations: Owners claim for $640,000 per game loss per game without fans over an 82-game season. This is the reason that the owners are further pushing for a 50-50 revenue split and further pay reductions.

May 19 — Day 5 of the Negotiations: Austin Hedges looked optimistic about the agreement happening between the two sides. He says MLB & MLBPA must understand that both sides have to bear some losses in the 2020 season. They must find a common deal to come to a conclusive agreement.

May 20 — Day 6 of the negotiations: Players went into reviewing the safety protocols. A three hours call to discuss the safety protocol happens between the leagues & the MLB Players Association for the 2020 season. It happened in the presence of around 130 players of the 30 teams. Many recommendations came from players too. MLB presents its official proposal.

May 21 — Day 7 of the negotiations: The players union responds to the league’s 67- page safety protocol proposal. In a counter-proposal, the union asks for inclusion of protection plans for high-risk players, and their families, clear rules on testing frequency, and sanitization protocols.

May 22 — Day 8 of the negotiations: Players do not look happy with the further salary cuts after they have agreed on a prorated salary based on the number of games played. But the union did not look happy about further cuts.

May 24 — Day 9 of the negotiations: Players are offered to defer some part of the salary for the 2020 season until the coming years. This is to make sure there is some financial relief to the league.

May 26 — Day 10 of the negotiations: The league comes up with a revised proposal, the player union looks pretty disappointed. The owners came up with a sliding compensation scale scheme. According to this new proposal, the players with highest-pat would be expected to bear higher pay cuts, and those with lower salaries can expect the same or a small reduction in the prorated salaries they would receive. The union looked aggressively disappointed quoting this a massive pay cut after they agreed on the prorated salaries in March.

May 27 — Day 11 of the Negotiations: Top players like Scherzer call this new proposal an intent to divide the union and malign players, ' image in the eyes of their fans. Max Scherzer writes in a Twitter post, players have “no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions.” It is likely that players will call for a longer season than the 82-game slate instead of agreeing on massive salary deductions.