Negotiations? When was the last time MLB owners and players sat across the table from each other to talk? It’s public posturing and it ain’t pretty.
A sad lot of MLB owners and union player reps are at it again. Already, the word is out that the MLB players union (MLBPA) will reject the league’s latest offer to have a 50-game regular season with pro-rated salaries, together with an expanded postseason.
Since March, when the season went down, the number of proposed regular-season games has gone from the original 82 that the players agreed to – to a whopping 114 recently called for the MLBPA.
Now MLB owners want to cut player salaries based on the number of games played, sent a message to the MLBPA for a 50-game season, which, in effect, is the salary equivalent of one-third of a season.
MLB Players And Owners – Shame On Both Sides
Naturally, MLB players will never accept the offer, and more and more, it’s beginning to look like this 2020 season will never get off the ground. Perhaps, at this point, it’s just as well.
This isn’t negotiations where two parties sit at a table to hammer things out. When both parties are serious in reaching an agreement, they often remain at the table with Domino’s on speed dial until there is an agreement.
Instead, we are witnessing the bane of the process – which is posturing. We don’t talk, we send volleys across the bough, fully aware the opposite side will never accept our offer.
But we do succeed in appearing to be making an effort as the “good guys” in the public debate – if there is one.
In most instances, posturing during negotiations is reserved as a tactic used by the union leadership to “rally the troops.” Hence, the membership sees how obstinate and vengeful the other side is.
Both MLB owners and players are drowning themselves by their constant public posturing that is submitted as negotiating.
It’s a lie, and eventually, it will eat up the 2020 MLB season, and possibly carry over to next season as well.
MLB Owners And Players Peering Into The Future
The current negotiations are as much about the upcoming new agreement as they are about the all but mangled 2020 MLB season.
Both owners and players are using this time to posture and float ideas, some of which turn into formal proposals. Some stick and become forums of serious negotiation – i.e., compromise and eventual agreement.
Others receive only a blank stare from the opposing side with an – Are you kidding me?
Unfortunately, all of the proposals submitted thus far either by MLB players or owners fall into the, “Are you freakin’ kidding me?” slot.
Everything, as we see today, is being rejected out of hand by the opposing side, leaving what? An inane dispute about whether it’s 50, 62, 71, or 58 games as the agreed-upon 2020 regular-season schedule?
For MLB Players, The Number Of Games Is Everything
There’s no mystery why MLB players submitted a schedule calling for 114 games – while the league turned around and squashed it down to 50. And subsequently, why the players are sure to reject the proposal.
MLB players get paid only during the regular season. The postseason is a reward generally received as a bonus, and the amount is drawn exclusively from revenues derived from playoff and World Series games.
The further you go, the higher the share your team reaps from the revenue bonanza. For example, a full share for a Washington National player for a World Series win in 2019 was worth $382,358.
Nobody’s Right If Everyone Is Wrong
The tit for tat, tag you’re it, fiasco can go on In ways described here it looks like it probably will.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
