The players will hold a virtual meeting at 5PM today to vote on the owners’ proposal to play a 60-game 2020 MLB season. The specific details of the proposal have been leaked. In relevant part:
- 60 games at full prorated salaries;
- Salaries will NOT be guaranteed in the event games are not played;
- The playoff pool for players will be $25 million, minimum;
- If fewer that 50 games are played then playoffs will NOT be expanded for the 2021 season and the DH will NOT apply to the 2021 season;
- There will be no salary relief with respect to the $170 million the owners advanced the players in early April. The players had requested that some of that be transformed from an advance on future salaries to a one-time payment;
- No modifications will be made to the qualifying offer system.
A possible vote over the weekend was postponed after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred made some tweaks to the offer, particularly with respect to the 2021 expanded playoffs and the DH if a full season isn’t played in 2020. That was seen as a sweetener for players who otherwise would’ve given up concessions for next year without getting corresponding benefits in 2020 due to cancelled games.
The players have proposed a 70-game season, but Manfred has said that’s an “impossibility” due to the calendar. If the players vote down the owners’ latest proposal -- and most people believe they will -- it seems inevitable that Manfred will impose a short season. Possibly as soon as today.
