Tuesday, the Major League Baseball Players Association received a newly revised economic proposal from MLB.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, MLB is facing a shortened season with massive decreases in revenues expected (no fans in stands, etc.) and somebody, somewhere needs to help eat those deficits. In March, players agreed to take a prorated salary, meaning if only 50 percent of games would be played, they would receive 50 percent of their salaries.
As the situation drag on, however, MLB needed to revisit that March agreement to cover the extreme gaps in revenue. Here, they asked players to accept further cuts, which players were not thrilled to do. This created a standoff between MLB and the Players Association, a situation which was approached Tuesday with the revised plan.
Players were asked to accept a tiered or "sliding scale" salary under the latest proposal, meaning the players with the highest salaries would see the largest cuts. Lower-paid players would still receive pay cuts as well, but they would not be as severe as their higher-paid peers.
ESPN's Jeff Passan revealed the exact numbers involved here:
Potential salary cuts in MLB plan, sources tell @JesseRogersESPN and me:
Full-year Proposal
$563.5K $262K
$1M $434K
$2M $736K
$5M $1.64M
$10M $2.95M
$15M $4.05M
$20M $5.15M
$25M $6.05M
$30M $6.95M
$35M $7.84M
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020
Then, he dug in a little deeper:
Seen another way: 82-game prorated salaries vs. MLB's proposal
Full Proposal
prorated
$285K $262K
$506K $434K
$1.01M $736K
$2.53M $1.64M
$5.06M $2.95M
$7.59M $4.05M
$10.1M $5.15M
$12.7M $6.05M
$15.2M $6.95M
$17.7M $7.84M
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020
This way, it's easier to see exactly what MLB is asking of its players under the revised plan. Early indications suggest it's not going to fly, and this plan will also need to be revised if we are getting a 2020 MLB season.
Worth noting: It’s the first day of this extremely important week and this is the first proposal from the league. That said, there is disappointment from the players, and to get anything close to what they want to play, MLB is going to have to move significantly off its proposal.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 26, 2020
As Passan says, it's only the first day of this new plan being in front of the union. Negotiations still have time to unfold — but the clock is ticking.
