While New York Yankees fans just want to watch some baseball this season, the MLB negotiations stalemate seems to make that less likely with each passing day. The negotiations are in their fourth week, with little progress made. Fans and this writer are starting to find it annoying when each plan and counterplan goes nowhere.
The newest MLB plan unveiled yesterday for a 76 game if not already rejected; it surely will be. I’m not going to get into details, because they are boring. The owners want the players to earn less than originally agreed upon and the players headed by ex-Yankee Tony Clark want more dollars for a coronavirus shortened season. With so many plans put forth and so many rejections, what is the underlying cause of the inability to reach a compromise? It’s really pretty simple; neither side trusts each other.
To understand this fully, you have to look back to the 1970s and 1980s. First, the owners wanted to institute a salary cap for players. That was immediately rejected by the MLBPA (players union). Many attempts since then have also been rejected. Even the most recent owner’s attempt for a revenue-sharing agreement. The union saw that as a way to institute a salary cap and was proclaimed “dead on arrival.”
Back in 1980, the MLB owners were forced to pay $280 million to the union after the owners were found guilty of conspiring to avoid competitive bidding for players. These are just two of the reasons that the players union is skeptical of the owners. The fact that the owners now keep presenting the same deal worded differently over and over again isn’t building any new trust either as the players feel the owners aren’t acting in good faith.
There are parallels here to the negotiations during the 1994 season. That ended up in the players going on strike that lasted into the 1995 season. Commissioner Rob Manfred has greatly underestimated players head, Tony Clark, thinking he could just steamroll the players. If history proves anything its that will not happen. Owners provide a venue, players provide the talent. Without the talent there is no baseball, and all sides lose.
As the seasonless days of baseball pass by, even the most optimistic reporters on the game are coming to the reality that there may be no baseball season this year. If the sides can somehow form some trust in each other and reach a split down the middle compromise on money issues, there may still be baseball in 2020. If that can’t happen, Manfred could use a heavy hand an put forth a 48 game season that the players must play. Has neither side learned anything from 1994?
Although Manfred has the ultimate final say in what the MLB baseball season will look like, the players in the negotiations actually have the heavier hand. A baseball strike is their option to not allow a deal, not to their liking from being shoved down their throats. With each passing day, a 2020 baseball season becomes less likely. It’s time for all of baseball to wakeup, smell the roses, and realize what the sport means to all of America in these troublesome times. Take your losses now and hope American forgives you.