Yankees: MLB’s Newest Proposal is Bad Sign for 2020 Season

Adam Weinrib

New York Yankees opening day (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

MLB seems barely closer to 2020 action after the owners’ latest proposal for a season.

The most important week for the future of the 2020 MLB season that we’ve had in a long time went off with the biggest of hitches. While many fans held out hope that the Yankees’ timeline of a July 4 return was semi-realistic, given the fact that teams had begun preparing their spring camps, and both sides had seemed willing to make concessions from their initial positions, ownership’s idea of a Plan B dropped Tuesday, and nary a player seemed satisfied.

When revenue sharing proved to be a nonstarter, MLB owners instead prepared to institute a massive pay cut on a sliding scale, hitting the league’s elite stars the hardest.

Unfortunately, with a new CBA to negotiate in full following the 2021 season, ownership has now pitted high-earning players against each other, leading to the type of discord they were surely hoping to take advantage of, but certainly not paving the way for harmony in 2020.

MLB proposed cuts to the highest-paid players in baseball in its first economic proposal to the players Tuesday. Players in turn bristled at the proposal. There is a significant gap between what the league offered and what the players want. News at ESPN: https://t.co/1ZUgA01MNU
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020

And, if money was your only concern, we have some more cold water to pour on the proceedings: players don’t exactly seem keen to agree on the health and safety aspects of 2020, either.

This remains a nearly impossible exercise that, for the reputation of both sides of this debate, must end with some sort of a face-saving agreement.

MLB and the MLBPA are far apart on salary issues. But I'm also hearing that a big gap remains on health and safety protocol, too.
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) May 26, 2020

Is it possible that this monetary fight is simply a bit of bluster to cover for the fact that an 82-game season (as well as a postseason scheduled to be threatened by a potential second wave of the coronavirus) might not be wise or safe in any capacity? Sure. But with the NHL and NBA poised to announce their return plans, fans are taking baseball’s continued lack of cooperation at face value, and the league’s reputation is plummeting.

Things are getting desperate.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.