Op-Ed – MLB and MLBPA need to grow up and work together
Setting foundations in the sand
Monday was a watershed moment. The Players Association rejected MLB’s proposal on changes. As a result, MLB must go ahead with original plans to have pitchers and catchers report to spring training in mid-February. That’s ridiculous and not exactly dealing in good faith.
Last week, Cactus League venues’ operators sent a letter to both sides requesting a month delay to spring training, citing coronavirus concerns. As of Sunday, Arizona has the seventh-highest infection rate in the country at 50 cases per 100K people.
The union believes the Cactus League acted as a shill for the owners and rejected any delay. What happened to protecting their membership? So much for science.
The Major League Baseball Players Association today released the following statement on Players’ commitment to begin the 2021 season on time: pic.twitter.com/WCYtaeVqmH
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) February 2, 2021
Since fans won’t be in the stands at most venues, team owners want to cut the number of games played to avoid incurring more losses. It’s understandable and certainly defendable. But just like the way they want to hold players to the contracts they signed, owners are responsible for their end of signings, as well.
Teams aren’t bringing in the revenue they expected, but it doesn’t mean they get to pass on their obligations. Personally, I think the owners are well aware of this and are using the idea of pro-rated season salaries as a negotiating ploy. As a matter of fact, they offered to pay players for a full season despite cutting down to 154 games.
The season should be shortened to A.) allow for more vaccinations and B.) put some additional room in the schedule to make up missed games. However, the players should still get their full salary. One of the suggestions I saw was to hold back a percentage (20–30) of players’ salaries, and teams would pay the balance on a deferred basis with interest. That’s fair for everyone. Will it happen? No.