Yankees: What MLB’s Proposal Would Mean for New York Stars’ Salaries

MLB’s latest proposal for salary reductions in 2020 would drastically change the New York Yankees’ payroll.

If Yankees baseball is going to be played in 2020, MLB and the MLBPA have a long chasm to pave over.

The league’s latest proposal features, instead of deferred money, a massive salary cut for the game’s top earners, de-incentivizing those with the most financial risk from messing with their health and safety. Additionally, it pits the richest players against the poorest (after all, what marginal 40-man roster player wouldn’t want to play while facing only a small-percentage salary reduction?), which could mean curtains on the next CBA negotiation, too.

Want to get a better idea of exactly what these pay cuts look like in real-time for the Yankees? NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty laid it out, and it’s not pretty for players who’ve already agreed to prorated 50% salary cuts for the halved season.

Of course, the figure that jumps out immediately is Gerrit Cole’s already-sliced $36 million salary somehow falling to less than 25% of what he intended to make this season. Is that something he’d be at all amenable to, while already calculating the health risks surrounding this season, as well as keeping his pregnant wife Amy and their soon-to-be child safe?

It’s also devastating for Masahiro Tanaka, who’s approaching his final season before an all-important free agency. Is it worth it for him to return and prove his mettle for $5.5 million in strange conditions? What if he falters under the newfound pressure? Remember, he fled to Japan in the early days of the U.S. outbreak, feeling unsafe in this country. Will he even return?

While Yankee fans are probably salivating at that reduced Giancarlo Stanton salary (kidding…ok, half-kidding), this is barely a step forward from revenue sharing and sets an entirely different and also bad precedent for future conversations.

For the sake of saving face at an important time in our nation’s history, we sincerely hope this isn’t the final straw.