Yankees: Players Who Will Be Screwed Out of Raises if 2020 MLB Season Doesn’t Happen

The 2020 MLB season may not even happen and it could save the New York Yankees some money.

As a fan, you’re very rarely hoping the franchise you cheer for saves money. Who cares? With rising ticket and concession prices, the average guy in the stands couldn’t care less if the billionaires in the executive suites suffer a net loss on the year. Just give us a good product if we’re paying this much! That’s it!

But in the case of the 2020 MLB season, everything has been turned upside down. Now, somehow, the owners are (seemingly) going to get their way in terms of the season length and salary payments based on the latest reports, and they stand to capitalize in another big way: not having to give raises to arbitration-eligible players in 2021.

We obviously don’t know the specifics surrounding this yet, but as things stand, players will gain a year of service time if the 2020 season doesn’t happen. How will that work financially for those still under arbitration? They’re judged year-to-year on performance, and with no stats in 2020, they’ll probably just have this year’s salary roll over to next.

For the New York Yankees, they’ll save some significant cash not having to give these guys a big raise.

4. Gio Urshela

It wasn’t until Gio Urshela arrived in New York that his career took off. The 28-year-old shined in his first full MLB season with the Yanks, slashing .314/.355/.534 with 73 runs scored, 21 home runs and 74 RBI while playing admirable defense at the hot corner. That earned him $2.48 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility this offseason, and assuming he picked up where he left off, his 2021 salary likely would have at least doubled. But if he’s unable to take the field in 2020, he’ll lose an entire year of building his value and proving his worth, which will drastically affect his earnings next year. Win for the front office, loss for the common man.