MLBPA balks at latest MLB proposal, requests Rob Manfred implement season

Frankly, it long ago became exhausting to log on to Red Reporter dot com and be inundated with pictures of people not playing the game of baseball. As the labor issues that have plagued the return of Major League Baseball continued into their third month, however, that has unfortunately become the sole focus of the baseball world.

And here we are, once again.

Today saw the MLB Players’ Association formally reject the most recent proposal submitted by Major League Baseball owners, and if you feel like you’ve heard that sentenced uttered a dozen times of late, you’re not wholly wrong. ESPN’s Jesse Rogers was the first to break the news, noting the overwhelming majority of voters voted down the would-be deal.

Let’s take a step back here for a minute. To be clear, this was the union voting to not amend the agreement they reached with MLB back in March, not the union voting to not play baseball. They’re of the mind that the initial reworked 2020 agreement is the contract under which they should play in 2020, and that agreement featured a clause that allows Rob Manfred the power and authority to implement a 2020 season.

Today’s voting results are, in effect, MLBPA telling Rob Manfred to put together a 2020 season under those parameters. Their official statement is below.

The expectation is that Manfred will move to set a 60 game regular season, one that will conclude no later than September 27th (in order to insure the playoffs will be completed by the end of October). Of course, that’s all contingent on the rapid increase of confirmed cases of COVID-19 not getting in the way, which somehow managed to go from ‘most important and pressing issue on every table’ to a bit of an elephant in the corner of a room focused on financial ramifications.

One thing is for sure here, though, and it’s that MLB and MLBPA are clearly miles apart in their views of how the economics of the game are divvied, something that will immediately become evident again as the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement under which they’re currently operating nears in 2021. Right now, it sure looks like the collective MLBPA is about as satisfied with the current arrangement as John Lackey was with every defender who ever played behind him. So, we’ve got that going for us.

Stay tuned, folks, as we’re sure to have further updates for you here at Labor Strife Remediation Reporter dot com in the coming days.