MLB Owners Make More Serious Return to Play Offer… and Players Reportedly Hate This One Too

Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn | Minnesota Twins | Getty Images

The mood surrounding the state of “return to play” affairs for Major League Baseball, has darkened recently. Days have gone by and negotiations between the MLB owners and MLBPA have unravelled, deepening the riff between the two factions. I was starting to worry about whether we would see the Minnesota Twins play baseball at all in 2020…

But then….. huge news started dropping this morning, by way of MLB insider Jon Heyman’s twitter account.





Season Length

Wow… so there is a lot to go over here and news on this proposal will continue to drop over the next few hours, I’m sure. The proposal for 76 games, seems to be what the MLB had offered last week (82 games), minus the one extra week of negotiations.

That extra week would also cost them a 4th of July weekend start… which will now be moved to July 10. The major differences though, are marked in the money (of course).





Money, Money, Money…

The MLB owners are now offering 75% of salaries across the board, which is much closer to the original agreement, signed right after the coronavirus shutdown. Their last offer was a tiered system they knew would be thrown out by the players.

In last week’s proposal from the owners to the MLBPA, the players took 40% total cut in salaries. The structure of the pay cuts involved the highest-paid stars in the league, taking the biggest brunt of revenue loss, which made no sense to anyone. This is a much more feasible and serious offer.

Last week’s squabbling however, wasn’t the first conversation the two sides had. Why will this deal get done when others haven’t moved the needle? It doesn’t apparently. Jon Heyman’s last tweet tells us why the owners think it should. Signing off on this deal, would make the players more money than even the best deal would, should they decide to wait. But, the players clearly don’t see it that way…





DO NOT SCREW THIS UP.

Now I say this to both the MLB owners and the MLBPA and its players… Please… do not screw this up. I need the Minnesota Twins in my life, right now. My life is empty without sports. Is it selfish that I am thinking of myself, when others have much more important things to be worried about?

Yes…. but Karl Ravich makes me feel better about the situation. He says baseball is coming back. It’s just a matter of when and how many regular season games.




Eric Strack | Minnesota sports Fan

Mentioned in this article:

More About: