Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
June 15, 2020
While America is literally burning, Major League Baseball is fiddling as billionaires and millionaires engage in a pissing match that is leaving baseball fans feeling all wet as the 2020 season is on the verge of being rained out.
Yet the myopic Commissioner Rob Manfred, mustering all the power of hitting the forkball with a wet noodle, guaranteed Major League Baseball will be played in 2020. While never having met Manfred, he’s no “Broadway” Joe Namath. The major leagues will play “baseball in 2020 - 100 percent - even if it has to be under the March 26 agreement. If we get to that point in the calendar, so be it. But, one way or the other, we’re playing major league baseball,” said the pusillanimous and feckless Manfred.
In March, the Major League Baseball Players Association and Major League Baseball agreed to allow the league to implement a schedule, and with no agreement in place, could impose a 50 game regular season, paying players “full prorated salaries worth a total of around $1.25 billion.”
Bear in mind a proposed 89 game regular season with full prorated salaries, down from 114 games, had already been deemed a non-starter by the MLBPA. This was a deal to include expanded playoffs to 16 teams - eight from the National League and eight from the American League - for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Another non-starter had a 76 game MLB regular season run July 10-October 11. With the expanded playoffs, the World Series would wrap up sometime between Chanukah and Christmas.
The MLBPA also rejected a proposed 72 game regular season at 70 percent prorated pay. Do the math, 72 games out of a traditional regular season of 162 games is but 44.4 percent of the season, yet the players would see more of their salaries than they actually should. The MLBPA called on the league to out forth a schedule for 2020 instead of countering the latest rejected proposal. “Further dialogue with the league would be futile. It’s time to get back to work. Tell us when and where,”said MLBPA executive director Tony Clark on Saturday, June 13.
ESPN released part of a letter it acquired sent by MLBPA negotiator Bruce Meyer to Dan Halem, deputy commissioner of MLB that said, “We demand that you inform us of your plans by close of business on Monday, June 15.” Yet as of the close of business, Wednesday, June 17 and a multi-hour meeting in Phoenix, the 2020 baseball season still hangs in the balance.
Saturday night, June 13 MLB released a statement, part of which said “We are disappointed that the MLBPA has chose not to negotiate in good faith over resumption of play after MLB has made three successive proposals that would provide players, Clubs, and our fans with an amicable resolution to a very difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
If COVID-19 is genuinely the sticking point, and players are genuinely concerned for their health, then the responsible course of action is to not play baseball in 2020. After all, a potential 50 game regular season with an extended postseason more than half as long, is ridiculously stupid. When did Major League Baseball become the NBA and the NHL - 82 and 80 games respectively with half the leagues making the playoffs? No thank you. Everyone go home and come back fighting in 2021 with a full complement of games.
Team owners wishing to pay players a portion of their salaries should do so under no obligation that it be mandated. On the other hand, players choosing to sit out the 2020 season, should do so. There are hundreds of minor leaguers at the Double-A and Triple-A levels who are playing for $350 and $502 per week respectively and would gladly suit up in a major league ballpark for the MLB minimum salary of $563, 500, or even 70 percent of that ($394,450). Promote those minor leaguers to fill out the 40 man roster. They are barely seeing enough money to pay for their per diem/meal money, while the owners and players are bitching over the millions, revenue sharing, and television revenue.
Regardless of the number of games to be played and the start date, (July 3-September 27 for 87 games), MLB still desires a regular season that concludes on Sunday, September 27 in order to avoid the postseason spilling over into November competing with football and the November 3 presidential election. While the suggested postseason plans call for 16 teams, the following plan is limited to 12 teams, six per league - division winners and the next best three records regardless of division. The division winners with the two best records will earn a bye in a first round, best of five series. The remaining division winner will play the lowest ranked of the three non-division winners, while the other two non-division winners will face off. With no days off, the series would start Tuesday, September 29 with a possible game five on Saturday, October 3. No Sunday game to compete with the NFL.
The divisional series would match the two bye teams against the winners of the first round in another best of five series. These series would begin on Monday, October 5, with a possible game five on Saturday, October 10, with yet another Sunday free to watch the NFL. The league championship series, seven gamers, would start on Monday, October 12 with possible game sevens on Tuesday, October 20. And as October winds down, the World Series would commence on Friday, October 23, with a thrilling conclusion game seven on Saturday, October 31 - yes, Halloween, but MLB will have its season ender prior to November 1, and no Sunday games throughout.
If COVID-19 is not the chief concern, the major leaguers can suck it up, suit up, and take the field to play a game most of us would play for free. They have rejected deals that would pay them more than they ought to be paid based upon the prorated statistics. If the schedule calls for 114 games, the payers should get paid for 114 games. If 50, likewise. It’s called a contract, and if the players don’t honor it, they should be fired for breach of contract.
Apparently both the owners and the players association have channeled their inner Gordon Gekko, adhering to the mantra, “Greed is good.”
There’s a tone-deafness even Beethoven would recognize. The fans really don’t give a rat’s tuchus about the prorated salaries, revenue sharing, or television revenue bickering back and forth. There are roughly 40 million Americans out of work who desperately need a respite from COVID reality and race riots. They just want to see the American pastime in action on the field of play not the boardroom of some ivory tower. No one in Major League Baseball should be crying poverty.
The minors, as has been demonstrated above, has 42 more legitimate reasons to cry poverty. Even before COVID-19 hit the fan, MLB had put a plan in place to contract 42 minor league teams from Rookie ball to Double-A. Although salary bumps are in the offing for the 2021 season, it is MLB, ironically, that is doing most of the crying.
League From/Week To/Week
Rookie/Short Season $290 $400
Single-A $290 $500
Double-A $350 $600
Triple-A $502 $700
Minor league players are only paid during the five months of their season - or less. They are not compensated for spring training or postseason. Some have argued that such low salaries violate minimum wage laws. The poverty line for a single person in 2019 was $12,490 and for a family of four, $25,750 according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Minor Leagues, Major Slayings:
Appalachian League (Advance Rookie): Bluefield Blue Jays, Bristol Pirates, Burlington Royals, Danville Braves, Elizabethton Twins, Greeneville Reds, Johnson City Cardinals, Kingsport Mets, Princeton Rays
California League (Advanced-A): Lancaster Jethawks
Carolina League (Advanced-A): Frederick Keys
Eastern League (Double-A): Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Erie Seawolves
Florida State League (Advanced-A): Daytona Tortugas, Florida Fire Frogs
Midwest League (Full Season-A): Burlington Bees, Clinton Lumber Kings, Quad Cities River Bandits
New York-Penn League (Short Season-A): Auburn Doubledays, Batavia Muckdogs, Connecticut Tigers, Lowell Spinners, Mahoning Valley Scrappers, State College Spikes, Staten Island Yankees, Vermont Lake Monsters, Williamsport Crosscutters
Northwest League (Short Season-A): Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Tri-City Dust Devils
Pioneer League (Advanced Rookie): Billings Mustangs, Grand Junction Rockies, Great Falls Voyagers, Idaho Falls Chukars, Missoula PaddleHeads, Ogden Raptors, Orem Owlz, Rocky Mountain Vibes
Southern League (Double-A): Chattanooga Lookouts, Jackson Generals
South Atlantic League (Full Season-A): Hagerstown Suns, Lexington Legends, West Virginia Power
Yet, while the average value of a major league team is $1.78 billion, according to Forbes, and MLB revenue in 2018 was $10.3 billion, MLB claims it is purging 42 teams to cut costs and save money. Minor league teams are valued between $5 million and $45 million. According to Buster Olney of ESPN, the savings emerging from the elimination of these 42 teams is about $60 million for MLB as a whole - or $1,428,571 per team killed off. What is also being killed off are thousands of jobs in the host cities - both team and non-team related, local economies will suffer - stadium jobs, restaurant jobs, lodging - hotels and homes, small businesses will suffer, other tourist attractions will also experience losses, and, a culture of a team’s history will be destroyed.
Olney also pointed out that New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole will earn about $1 million per start in 2020. Put to the test, Cole is the second highest paid player behind only Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels centerfielder. Assuming Cole takes the mound once every five days, he would start 32 games. At a salary of $36 million for the season, every start is valued at $1.125 million, or $125,000 per inning pitched were he to complete every start. In two starts, Cole could save one of these forlorn teams with enough left over to buy that team’s fans a hot dog and a Coke ® .
It would take the aforementioned Trout just under six games to save a team. His $37 million 2020 salary comes to $232, 716 per game, assuming he plays all 162 games in a season, or $25, 857 per inning played, were he to play every inning of the season.
Max Scherzer, Nationals pitcher $35.9 million $1.122 million per start
Zack Greinke, Astros pitcher $35 million $1.094 million per start
Stephen Strasburg, Nats pitcher $35 million $1.094 million per start
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 3rd baseman $35 million $216,049 per game
Justin Verlander, Astros pitcher $33 million $1.031 million per start
David Price, Dodgers pitcher $32 million $1 million per start
Manny Machado, Padres 3rd baseman $32 million $197,530 per game
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers pitcher $31 million $969,000 per start
And that’s just the top 10. The big boys of MLB could very easily help their younger brethren and save some small towns and cities along the way. And, I’ll just bet such largess might be tax deductible. Save a team, save a town.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. Please visit https://www.change.org/Save-a-Team-Save-a-Town to Save a Team, Save a Town.
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