Breaking Down the Latest Steps Toward a 2020 MLB Season

[glunn]

 

Not suffer at all?? Do you understand these are people, with families, being sent into a hazardous, awkward and confining situation for months? No matter the precautions or systems MLB implements, players and personnel will be putting themselves at risk, while owners watch from their comfy mansions.

 

There is more to the world than money, and people in all walks of life are coming to terms with that right now.

 

I'm perfectly fine with an opt-in season. I'll watch. I just don't think any players should feel obligated to participate and I don't think it should count as an official MLB season of record. I have been clear & consistent with this view for over a month. 

I agree with all of this except the part about this not being an official season.

 

If the Twins win the World Series I want it to be official. If the Twins don't win the World Series then I won't care about whether it was official. And I think that not making it official would diminish the joy that will result if this thing can get off the ground and stay off the ground.

 

I have some appreciation for the sanctity of baseball, but in a pandemic it seems to me that we fans should have the joy of rooting for a championship that is not going to be burdened by an asterisk.

[Major League Ready]

 

Not suffer at all?? Do you understand these are people, with families, being sent into a hazardous, awkward and confining situation for months? No matter the precautions or systems MLB implements, players and personnel will be putting themselves at risk, while owners watch from their comfy mansions.

 

There is more to the world than money, and people in all walks of life are coming to terms with that right now.

 

I'm perfectly fine with an opt-in season. I'll watch. I just don't think any players should feel obligated to participate and I don't think it should count as an official MLB season of record. I have been clear & consistent with this view for over a month. 

 

I have already said participation should be optional. However, to suggest the owners should just accept whatever additional loses result from playing the season while players receive full comp is not only extremely bias it's the kind of thinking that will assure we don't have a season.

 

There are quite a few players who have already made far more than they can spend in their lifetime or their kids lifetime. I could see many of them opting to take no risk. However, anyone does not think this mostly about money, they are incredibly naive. If the owners would agree to pay full compensation, 90+ percent would play.

 

I find prejudice in any form repugnant. The hatred some people demonstrate solely on the basis of someone being wealthy is no less distasteful than prejudice based in and other form. Judge the person by their actions not the size of their bank account. I bet their are plenty of owners who have no prejudice and treat people exceptionally well. We should all strive to do the same.

[ashbury]

The hatred some people demonstrate solely on the basis of someone being wealthy is no less distasteful than prejudice based in and other form.

Uffda. When a billionaire jogger gets gunned down, or a wealthy church gets torched, get back to us on that.

 

[Nick Nelson]

 

I have already said participation should be optional. However, to suggest the owners should just accept whatever additional loses result from playing the season while players receive full comp is not only extremely bias it's the kind of thinking that will assure we don't have a season.

Saying that baseball team owners, who have more wealth than all their players combined and who don't have to make any personal sacrifices (in terms of personal safety, well-being and life disruption) in this scenario, should be willing to accept financial losses if they want to hold a season is not "bias," it is an opinion based on facts and personal conviction.

 

[Bandit34]

 

Uffda. When a billionaire jogger gets gunned down, or a wealthy church gets torched, get back to us on that.
 

Happens quite often actually. Especially in places such as the Philippines. Many, many wealthy people in the Philippines have to have constant bodyguard protection and are not able to go out and about in common society due to safety concerns. 

[Bandit34]

 

Saying that baseball team owners, who have more wealth than all their players combined and who don't have to make any personal sacrifices (in terms of personal safety, well-being and life disruption) in this scenario, should be willing to accept financial losses if they want to hold a season is not "bias," it is an opinion based on facts and personal conviction.

The best thing is simply not to play the season. End of story really. I think it would help a lot of people in this land realize that we really do not need this sport nearly as much as the players need us. 

[Bandit34]

And I would add that most of the billionaire owners are human success stories. They didn't make their fortunes in baseball. They don't need baseball either. They have their successful businesses that they can tend to if they decide to do without baseball. The players need the owners and the fans. The players need the game. The players must be the ones to sacrifice most for the sport if they know what's good for them.

[USAFChief]

“If I’m going to play, I should be at the money I signed to be getting paid,” Snell said. “I should not be getting half of what I’m getting paid because the season’s cut in half, all on top of a 33% cut of the half that’s already there, so I’m really getting like 25%. On top of that, it’s getting taxed. So imagine how much I’m actually making to play, you know what I’m saying? Like, I ain’t making (expletive). And on top of that, so all of that money’s gone and now I play risking my life.”

 

Blake Snell

 

I read somewhere that 40% of wage earners who make 40K or less are currently unemployed, but baseball players feel put upon being asked to take less.

 

Screw them. I hope Blake Snell never earns another penny playing baseball. Let him earn his living digging ditches. Offer his job to a minor leaguer.

 

I could not be more disgusted with the MLBPA.

[glunn]

It still seems to me that there is fertile middle ground that should be explored. My understanding is that revenue sharing could be good for the players in a normal year, and that both sides will benefit from keeping the sport going.

 

I think that the owners should open their books and financial projections to the players and the parties should seek a long-term deal that allows the players to benefit from revenue sharing once things turn around. The players would take more of the hit from COVID than merely pro-rating salaries, but would get more than before after COVID is over.

[Major League Ready]

 

And I would add that most of the billionaire owners are human success stories. They didn't make their fortunes in baseball. They don't need baseball either. They have their successful businesses that they can tend to if they decide to do without baseball. The players need the owners and the fans. The players need the game. The players must be the ones to sacrifice most for the sport if they know what's good for them.

 

I agree with the general sentiment that the players need the game more than the owners. However, I don’t believe fans are accurately assessing what each side will give up to play this season. Players will give up part of their salaries but they will be better off financially by playing. Obviously, they won’t get what they normally would have but $100K or $1M is better than $0. I don’t see a scenario where fans will be allowed to return soon enough or at levels that will allow the teams to break even. In other words, they have already agreed to a scenario where it costs them to have a season. That cost for the Twins is probably $20M+ over what they have already lost if the players we paid at full rate.

 

The point at which I would blame this on the owners would be if they demanded a profit to resume the season. For example, if they wanted to recoup the losses they have already incurred. I would go so far as to say I even expect them to resume as long as the losses are modest. They have met that expectation. Some players are stomping their feet. Basically, they want every dime they would have got without a pandemic. However, I don’t think Blake Snell’s perspective is shared by all players.

What I would like to see is the players given the option to play based on the 50 percent of revenue that has been offered. They should be given the option to sit out if they are so inclined. It should be noted that less than one half of one percent of Covid-19 deaths are people less than 35 years of age.

[ashbury]

Screw them. I hope Blake Snell never earns another penny playing baseball. Let him earn his living digging ditches. Offer his job to a minor leaguer.

Completely separately, I fired up my copy of Out Of The Park and took at look at Snell's scouting report. A part of the game that is mostly under-the-hood and affects some aspects of play is "player personalities". How they determine these for the real life players, I don't know, although they catch some obvious players like Chapman and Familia as being actively disliked.

 

Anyway, that scouting report for Snell in this game stated, "Blake isn't one to rock the boat."

 

LOL. Bet there will be a slight update in their database for the next patch release.

 

[DocBauer]

I think it's basically a given that MLB, and the owners, are not making a profit this year. Its about mitigating losses to break even, IMO. IF the owners ARE trying to make a profit for any sort of 2020 season then shame on them and they are being very misguided. As I stated before elsewhere, everyone should be looking for part of something because all of nothing is exactly that, nothing.

 

The people who own ML teams, by themselves or as majority owners with minor partners, I would just about guarantee, don't enjoy profits from baseball to earn any sort of living. The owners, sole/majority/minor, own and run many other businesses and corporations. Sure profits from baseball line their coffers, but it is not some primary income for them. So yes, they can afford to have a zero balance sheet for 2020. Absolutely.

 

But to suggest because they are billionaires they can simply afford to sustain a huge financial hit in 2020 and just "absorb" multi-million dollar losses is misguided. It assumes two things:

 

1] Because of their net worth they have vaults sitting flush with liquid cash they can and are willing to pass out and lose for 2020. I'm no financial expert, not even close, but I know that's not how business works.

 

2] It also assumes absorbing huge losses for their ML franchises is OK for 2020 because all of their other businesses/corporations/investments are still sound and doing well. In what possible scenario could that be true? How many people are out of work, laid off, taking pay cuts, etc, right now due to this world wide pandemic? I dare say it's possible some readers/contributors here at TD could be facing a crisis or loss of income from a company they work for that is owned by someone who owns a MLB franchise.

 

Let's assume for a moment that ML owners were actually willing to go beyond breaking even for this season and actually accept huge multi million dollar losses to have a season and pay the players as much as they possibly could. What does that do to the stability of the franchise? Who starts losing jobs? Taking it further, how many additional cutbacks and job losses are there in the other businesses owned and run by these owners to make up for said losses? Companies and businesses that are unrelated to baseball and already facing crunches and losses on their own?

 

The mitigating factors here are far more reaching than just just the health of each franchise for 2020.

 

I have always had a problem with professional athletes...not all of them assuredly...making absurd comments like: "I have to make as much as I can in my career while I can because my career window is so short", as if they can't invest or do anything else for the rest of their lives. It would take me 10 years to make what a MLB rookie makes in just a single full season, not even considering additional perks and the such.

 

HOWEVER, I have seldom ever begrudged a professional athlete from making as much money as they can in their career. (There are situations where someone is greedy and nuts and we all know this, lol). Additionally, I've never begrudged an owner of a business, or sports franchise, to also earn a profit from their investment. (Now, it's different if they are just greedy, nasty, and looking to gouge people. I think that's fair).

 

The players do make the game, not the owners. No players...no game...no entertainment...no league. And the players, not to mention managers, coaches, trainers, staff, etc, incure a risk by playing. That shouldn't be forgotten. And they deserve to be paid. But at some point, reality has to set in for both parties. Break even, make some money, get on with tomorrow and your career if feasible. Keep baseball mkving forward for yourselves, the sport, and for the public, your fans and supporters. HOPEFULLY, maybe even learn something from all of this in a collaborative effort for the future.

 

Part of something is better than all of nothing.