On Wednesday, Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer voiced his displeasure about negotiations with the MLB on saving the 2020 season. The star for the reigning World Series champs has been representing the Players Union during talks with the league and the owners.
He tweeted that “there’s no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions”. This means that the players will not accept anything less than prorated salaries.
The owners have been encouraging a 50-50 revenue split, however, the players are strongly against that. Owners are against prorated salaries because in their minds, they would lose too much money. What owners fail to realize is that they would make the money back quickly after the 2020 season. It would be a one season revenue loss.
“There’s no justification to accept a 2nd pay cut based upon the current information the union has received,” added Scherzer.
From what we have heard, the Players Union will likely submit a counter-proposal to the MLB including a season as long as 110 games. The players will still ask for prorated salaries. Even though more money would be used for salaries, it would give the teams more games to make revenue from TV deals and other services.
It’s certainly a messy situation, but all parties remain confident that a deal will be completed. It looks bleak for fans, but everyone within baseball still thinks a deal will be completed. A deal would need to be completed by early June to start Spring Training again on June 10th, as previously suggested.
Both players and owners have a lot of work to do, but hopefully a deal will be completed soon.