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2020 MLB Season Thread -- Rays v. Dodgers -- Small Payroll v. Large Payroll

The idea of a major sports franchise going under seems really far fetched even under these circumstances. Any word which franchise? Devaluation? Maybe some, but going under? That just seems way out there.

When you look at the relatively modest savings MLB will apparently realize from contracting and realigning the minors, maybe the financial health of a lot of franchises has been over-estimated.
 
Considering they were talking about contracting the Rays right around the time they went to the World Series, I'd say the Rays could possibly go under. Depends on their debt obligations of course. I would guess the A's might not be on solid ground financially.
 
The question is would the owners ever agree to give the players more money if they had a great year and made massively more than the previous years? There's no reason for the players to accept such dramatic cuts to save owners whom they have made so many billions for over the years.

If the players make concessions, they should be tied to returning the money over the next few years. It should include making the players whole who were on a team this year but not throughout the repayment period.
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Teams that are highly leveraged would be the one's in the most trouble. The Marlins top the list; the Dodgers are highly leveraged as well, but their revenues are so high that they aren't going to crater (although not playing games does not help). MLB has 30 teams, and eventually they want to go to 32 and have 8 four team divisions. Expansion provides a big time payout to each MLB team for the new ownership groups to buy-in. Having a team fail (or have to get taken over by the league like the Expos in 2003-4), would decrease MLB ability to maximize expansion fees.
 
I can’t see MLB (or available markets) just letting a franchise go under. It just doesn’t make short or long term financial sense.
 
This year's very abbreviated draft is another method of cutting player development costs. Many players who would have been drafted in rounds six and beyond will now be undrafted free agents. Last year rounds 6-10 bonus money went from just over $300K to just over $140K. Picks in rounds 11-40 could get up to $125K without team penalty. Now all the would have been 2020 rounds 6-40 guys are undrafted free agents. Max signing bonus : $20K.

Lots more of those guys are going to college-if they and their families can afford it. So colleges are going to be doing a lot more of the developmental work currently being done in the minor leagues.

A half scholarship plus some additional financial assistance to attend college is going to look a lot more attractive compared to $20K signing bonus than it did compared to 7 - 15 times that amount.

If this is the new way for baseball, baseball will become more of an elite sport in the US. Kids who played baseball in HS and thought they could use MLB signing money as a financial boost to their families now see that going away. If money factors in, they will head toward football and basketball. Those sports will get them full scholarships for college, not partial.

By pinching pennies now, MLB owners are risking their future talent pool.
 
Players should only agree to revenue sharing if they get non-dilutable shares in the teams they play for this season. Why should they prop up the values of the teams without getting more than a cut salary in return?
 
Billionaires are jerks. The players and owners agreed on prorated pay and now the owners are backing out. If your boss asked you to risk your life and take less pay you'd tell them to eff off too. Even the Marlins made over $200 million in revenue last year.

Also, A-Rod and Tex coming out and telling the players to make deals are the biggest hypocrites. Those guys always maximized the amount of money they could personally make. A-Rod is trying to kiss the owners asses cause he wants to buy a team, but no clue why Tex is doing it.
 
Billionaires are jerks. The players and owners agreed on prorated pay and now the owners are backing out. If your boss asked you to risk your life and take less pay you'd tell them to eff off too. Even the Marlins made over $200 million in revenue last year.

Also, A-Rod and Tex coming out and telling the players to make deals are the biggest hypocrites. Those guys always maximized the amount of money they could personally make. A-Rod is trying to kiss the owners asses cause he wants to buy a team, but no clue why Tex is doing it.

Duh. The history of the world is the super wealthy vs. everyone else.
 
This proposal sounds incredibly dumb


https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/5/18/21256724/mlb-labor-fight-players-association-coronavirus

According to the proposal, those include players, coaches, and other on-field personnel undergoing coronavirus tests multiple times a week, and front office personnel being subjected to monthly blood screenings for antibodies. Players would receive daily temperature checks both at home and at the ballpark, and anyone who reports a body temperature of 100 degrees or higher would be put into isolation. The manual also includes diagrams indicating where coaches and players would be allowed to sit in the dugout, and guidelines on how far apart they’d have to stand for the pregame national anthem and the seventh-inning rendition of “God Bless America.” (For some reason, we’d still be playing music between innings in front of empty stands.)

Per the proposal, any ball that’s touched by multiple players during the course of play would be discarded, and all team meetings must be held either outdoors or via video conference to reduce unnecessary physical contact. Likewise, postgame buffets and dugout water coolers would be replaced with individually packaged meals and water bottles. Players would be strongly discouraged from showering at the team facility, fraternizing or fighting with opponents, and even spitting.
 
Prob time to change the thread title.

Feels like this is going to get ugly between MLBPA and MLB. Maybe they'll get something done for this season, but there will be residual ramifications when the CBA expires.
 
MLB owners need to stop sniffing glue. This plan is insane:

"The scale goes down as salaries go up, with every dollar:

$563,501 to $1 million paid at 72.5%

$1,000,001 to $5 million paid at 50%

$5,000,001 to $10 million paid at 40%

$10,000,001 to $20 million paid at 30%

$20,000,001 and up paid at 20%"


The owners want the players who make them the most money to take the biggest pay cuts. That's got a real chance.

As usual sports owners want the players to pay for any losses they will have.
 
Since most MLB players are on their first contract, the owner's are trying to get those players to vote to accept over the vast minority of players with big time contracts. I don't necessarily agree with it - owner's subsidizing losses on their biggest contracts - but it is their attempt to divide the players between have and have-nots. If it helps, think of it as a progressive tax system.
 
Baseball labor negotiations are always more public than other sports. Like lots of negotiations, both sides take initial positions that they know the other side will reject. For the last 25 years, both sides have understood that a compromise is better than a long term dispute. Would guess that ultimately a deal that neither side likes will get hammered out. Players know that something is better than nothing. Owners know that the sport and the value of the franchises will take hit if a labor dispute leads to a lost season. BTW, the owners are greedy, but I have no sympathy for the MLB players either. Poor Bryce Harper may only get paid $10 million to play baseball for 3 months this year. Boo hoo.

IMO, the owners were really dumb to leave the minor leaguers out of their proposal. Even though they aren't part of the union, everyone can sympathize with those guys that are making a measly $400 a week through the end of May. Some teams have already advised that they will stop paying their minor leaguers starting in June. The offer to the MLBPA should have included a provision that all minor leaguers would be paid through the end of the season, even though there won't be minor league baseball this year. Would've worked out to less than $1 million per team, and would've at least put a little money in the pockets of 4,500 professional baseball players that need it the most. When a deal is finally hammered out, MLB and the MLBPA should find away that some money gets to those guys many of whom literally need the money to eat.
 
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Since most MLB players are on their first contract, the owner's are trying to get those players to vote to accept over the vast minority of players with big time contracts. I don't necessarily agree with it - owner's subsidizing losses on their biggest contracts - but it is their attempt to divide the players between have and have-nots. If it helps, think of it as a progressive tax system.

So, you'd pay to see the roadies and not the band...got it.
 
Baseball labor negotiations are always more public than other sports. Like lots of negotiations, both sides take initial positions that they know the other side will reject. For the last 25 years, both sides have understood that a compromise is better than a long term dispute. Would guess that ultimately a deal that neither side likes will get hammered out. Players know that something is better than nothing. Owners know that the sport and the value of the franchises will take hit if a labor dispute leads to a lost season. BTW, the owners are greedy, but I have no sympathy for the MLB players either. Poor Bryce Harper may only get paid $10 million to play baseball for 3 months this year. Boo hoo.

IMO, the owners were really dumb to leave the minor leaguers out of their proposal. Even though they aren't part of the union, everyone can sympathize with those guys that are making a measly $400 a week through the end of May. Some teams have already advised that they will stop paying their minor leaguers starting in June. The offer to the MLBPA should have included a provision that all minor leaguers would be paid through the end of the season, even though there won't be minor league baseball this year. Would've worked out to less than $1 million per team, and would've at least put a little money in the pockets of 4,500 professional baseball players that need it the most. When a deal is finally hammered out, MLB and the MLBPA should find away that some money gets to those guys many of whom literally need the money to eat.

what should Bryce Harper get paid to play something for 3 months that millions of people want to watch?

The owners greediness plays worse because nobody pay (in cable package fees or tickets) to watch a fucking owner sit in a box. People pay to watch the players. I'd much rather the vast majority of that money go to the players.
 
Someone on the Twitters made an excellent point that the players are paying much more attention now than they normally would during labor negotiations. Under normal circumstances, they'd be off-season training, or on vacation, or doing whatever else. Now they have nothing but time and are in the middle of what would've been their season. So they're locked in to the details.
 
Have the players made an offer yet? I may have missed it, but I keep hearing the owners' offers and the players rejecting them....which they probably should. They need to get beyond just saying "no" to win the fans. Every other sport has a plan and schedule to resume playing except baseball.
 
The MLBPA offer is expected by the end of the week.

So far, the players position has been that they must get a pro-rated amount of their 2020 salaries based on the number of games played. The owners last offer was based on a sliding scale so that the minimum salaries guys would essentially get their pro-rated salaries while the highest paid guys would have largest reductions. My guess is that the players don't move off their position, but they suggest that more games are played and allow the owners to defer some salary payments. There is a problem with that though as deferring payments into 2021 is really going to limit the money available for free agents next year. On top of all of that, the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2021 season; so, both sides fear making a concession that will then become a given when the new CBA is negotiated. Lots of moving parts and not much time.

While I am still optimistic that a deal will be reached, the clock is ticking. For the games to start at the beginning of July, a deal has to be sealed in the next week or so.
 
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