Will The MLB Suspend The 2020 season

[mvp 78]

I so do not get this logic. These owners have potentially a billlion dollars tied up in these teams, and they’d prefer a season with no financial recoup that throws the very future of the sport and their investment into question over a single season of potentially losing money?

 

Any owner that doesn't understand the goodwill of starting a season ASAP doesn't deserve a franchise.

 

I believe I read somewhere that if 8 owners don't want a season to happen, it prevents Manfred from having a season.

[mvp 78]

Manfred needs 75% approval from owners to start a season.

 

30 teams. 23 need to approve.

 

If 8 say no, bye bye baseball.

[jad]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/06/16/baseball-owners-players-coronavirus-stoppage

[mvp 78]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/06/16/baseball-owners-players-coronavirus-stoppage

 

When they do speak, they tend to spew nonsense.

 

Consider Astros owner Jim Crane, who sat behind a table at spring training just four months ago and spoke of the rampant cheating that the organization he runs perpetrated during its 2017 championship season, the worst scandal in the sport’s history, and insisted, with a straight—and aggrieved—face, “I don’t think I should be held accountable.”

 

Consider Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, who, 11 days before word leaked that the league had agreed to a billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports to broadcast the playoffs, told ESPN that “the league itself does not make a lot of cash.”

 

Consider Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr., who told a local radio station last week that presiding over a baseball team “isn’t very profitable, to be honest.” This would seem to be a new opinion on the part of DeWitt, who owned parts of the Orioles, Reds and Rangers before buying the Cardinals for $150 million in 1995. Forbes estimates the Cardinals to be worth $2.1 billion.

[notin]

Manfred needs 75% approval from owners to start a season.

 

30 teams. 23 need to approve.

 

If 8 say no, bye bye baseball.

 

And I’m sure the 6 dissenters can make some deal to convince at least two more somehow. “If you vote to cancel, I’ll give you $25million in my stock options, my Persian red Lamborghini, the Tuscan villa, and two mistresses to be named later.”

[mvp 78]

And I’m sure the 6 dissenters can make some deal to convince at least two more somehow. “If you vote to cancel, I’ll give you $25million in my stock options, my Persian red Lamborghini, the Tuscan villa, and two mistresses to be named later.”

 

Depends on what the fMAR is on those 2!

[notin]

Depends on what the fMAR is on those 2!

 

 

People who own MLB franchises do NOT deal in Replacement Level Mistresses, as measured in years under 30...

[mvp 78]

People who own MLB franchises do NOT deal in Replacement Level Mistresses, as measured in years under 30...

 

I'd keep going further with this, be it'd just end in a poorly written post about mistress choking being real.

[notin]

I'd keep going further with this, be it'd just end in a poorly written post about mistress choking being real.

 

I think everyone gets the point; the 2020 MLB season is in serious jeopardy...

[Kimmi]

If that's it, there are 22 to 24 who do. But I'm guessing there are a number of undecideds.

 

You would think the Red Sox would really like to have some kind of a season. They need it to reset their luxury tax penalty.

[Bellhorn04]

You would think the Red Sox would really like to have some kind of a season. They need it to reset their luxury tax penalty.

 

You're saying they would have to re-set again?

[Kimmi]

I think everyone gets the point; the 2020 MLB season is in serious jeopardy...

 

Biggest cluster *$#* ever.

[Kimmi]

You're saying they would have to re-set again?

 

If there is no season, then the Sox would have to reset again in 2021.

[Bellhorn04]

If there is no season, then the Sox would have to reset again in 2021.

 

Probably not a big issue. Who's going to want to spend after this disaster?

 

Sorry, Mookie...

[Elktonnick]

Probably not a big issue. Who's going to want to spend after this disaster?

 

Sorry, Mookie...

If MLB doesn' t play this year. The backlash will be enormous. While most including me will place the vast majority of the blame on ownership, the players won't escape unscathed. Both sides would need to swallow their pride and figure some way to work together to regain public support. I just do not see any leadership.from anyone involved in MLB who is capable of bringing everyone together.

[Kimmi]

Probably not a big issue. Who's going to want to spend after this disaster?

 

Sorry, Mookie...

 

It will be really interesting to see what the market for Mookie will be. As much as I've been on him for not being satisfied with the Red Sox' offer of $300 million, I kind of feel bad for him. He'll be fine regardless, but this is the moment he's been playing for and betting on for a long time, and now it might not come to fruition, through no fault of his own.

[Bellhorn04]

It will be really interesting to see what the market for Mookie will be. As much as I've been on him for not being satisfied with the Red Sox' offer of $300 million, I kind of feel bad for him. He'll be fine regardless, but this is the moment he's been playing for and betting on for a long time, and now it might not come to fruition, through no fault of his own.

 

Well, he did accept risk by turning down the offers he did. Certainly no one expected that one of the risks would be a pandemic.

[Kimmi]

Well, he did accept risk by turning down the offers he did. Certainly no one expected that one of the risks would be a pandemic.

 

Yes, he did accept some risk. I remember reading how his mother always encouraged him to go to free agency, and thinking that if I were his mother, I would have encouraged him to take the $300 million. It's hard for me to imagine passing up that kind of money.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Yes, he did accept some risk. I remember reading how his mother always encouraged him to go to free agency, and thinking that if I were his mother, I would have encouraged him to take the $300 million. It's hard for me to imagine passing up that kind of money.

 

If there's no 2020, there's no $300 M offer from anywhere for anyone. If so, I'll bet Mookie signs a one-year deal at current wage for 2021 in LA. I think he wants to see what it's like to be a Dodger, and they want to see what it's like for Betts to wear blue. Then if he really excels and they love him, don't be surprised if he inks another one-year for 2022 -- this time for a record amount -- because the looming CBA war will certainly put long-term deals on hold as bitter owners collu-- I mean, refrain...

[oldtimer]

There has been a ton of anti-owner sentiment on this site with very little accountability going to the players. The fact is that it costs a lot to go to a game these days and attendance numbers have been reflecting that. Costs have spiraled and both ticket prices and concessions,including parking, are high. I paid $50 a ticket for a ST game with very few top red sox players present. The middle class families cannot afford the current costs. We need more exciting baseball, lower costs and less labor strife to keep the game meaningful to the fans. That will eventually mean lower salaries if attendance figures continue to decline.

[Kimmi]

If there's no 2020, there's no $300 M offer from anywhere for anyone. If so, I'll bet Mookie signs a one-year deal at current wage for 2021 in LA. I think he wants to see what it's like to be a Dodger, and they want to see what it's like for Betts to wear blue. Then if he really excels and they love him, don't be surprised if he inks another one-year for 2022 -- this time for a record amount -- because the looming CBA war will certainly put long-term deals on hold as bitter owners collu-- I mean, refrain...

 

I can't really disagree with any of that. Even if there is a 2020 season, it would probably be in Mookie's best interest to sign a one year deal and hope for an improved market in 2021 or 2022. The whole situation just really stinks for him and other free agents.

[Kimmi]

There has been a ton of anti-owner sentiment on this site with very little accountability going to the players. The fact is that it costs a lot to go to a game these days and attendance numbers have been reflecting that. Costs have spiraled and both ticket prices and concessions,including parking, are high. I paid $50 a ticket for a ST game with very few top red sox players present. The middle class families cannot afford the current costs. We need more exciting baseball, lower costs and less labor strife to keep the game meaningful to the fans. That will eventually mean lower salaries if attendance figures continue to decline.

 

IMO, both sides are equally to blame.

 

It appears that the owners have agreed to give the players full prorated salary with somewhere around 60 or 70 games, as opposed to Manfred's potential mandate of 50 games. It's a step in the right direction, and it appears the two sides are at least talking again. Baseball people sound optimistic.

 

Get it done. This has dragged on long enough. Let's play some baseball!

[Elktonnick]

The English Premier League resumed play today.

[Kimmi]

The English Premier League resumed play today.

 

Oh yes, my son has been talking about this for a while. I am not a soccer fan, but he is so excited he could hardly stand it.

 

Go Chelsea! (For my son.)

[Elktonnick]

Oh yes, my son has been talking about this for a while. I am not a soccer fan, but he is so excited he could hardly stand it.

 

Go Chelsea! (For my son.)

The only reason I am interested is John Henry,'s Liverpool can begin play but not the Red Sox. It is so irritating.

[Thunder]

PGA Tour > EPL

 

Quick shoutout to the PGA Tour though. Tomorrow they start their second tournament back. They test everybody on site, and keep players in a bubble during the week. 0 positive tests so far, and over 900 administered

[fxkatt]

If there is no season, then the Sox would have to reset again in 2021.

 

If true, then why would Betts not have to replay the final year of his contract next year with the Dodgers. No season, no service year. It would seem that this would be a reset year given the Sox made all the necessary cuts.

[jad]

There has been a ton of anti-owner sentiment on this site with very little accountability going to the players. The fact is that it costs a lot to go to a game these days and attendance numbers have been reflecting that. Costs have spiraled and both ticket prices and concessions,including parking, are high. I paid $50 a ticket for a ST game with very few top red sox players present. The middle class families cannot afford the current costs. We need more exciting baseball, lower costs and less labor strife to keep the game meaningful to the fans. That will eventually mean lower salaries if attendance figures continue to decline.

 

I don't know how many times this point needs to be made: ticket prices have NO relation to player salaries. They are set by bean-counters to maximize the gate. It doesn't matter if payroll is 200 million or 200 thousand. The calculation is the same. If you can sell a seat for $150, there is no way you are going to let it go for $10. The fans' belief that if you cut player salaries down, ticket prices would drop is ridiculous. Sure, we'd all like to walk to Fenway and get a $3 bleacher seat on game day. But guess what: Fenway is FULL! What kind of logic suggests that if prices were dropped, then suddenly there would be thousands of tix available? Lower player salaries all you want--all you are doing is putting more money in the pockets of the owners, who have pretty much revealed their true colors the last couple of months (firing staff, getting rid of minor leagues, screwing over minor leaguers).

[Elktonnick]

If you subscribe to the Athletic, Jayson Stark's June 17 piece is a comprehensive yet grim picture of the state of the game. Here is an excerpt.

 

"Hey, great. Believe it or not, the visions just got darker from there. We heard predictions of teams declaring bankruptcy, maybe even the sport declaring bankruptcy. We heard predictions of the commissioner being overthrown by a group of unhappy owners. We even heard an argument for basically blowing up the business of baseball and starting over, to try to get this right."

 

"FREE AGENCY: Club officials, from markets of varying sizes, offered similar predictions – of unprecedented numbers of unsigned free agents … of up to 300 players getting non-tendered (yes, 300!) … of veteran players begging for any kind of deal … of even the marquee free agents – Mookie Betts, George Springer, J.T. Realmuto – settling for one-year contracts.

 

SALARY DUMPS: Multiple executives predicted we’d see financially hurting clubs try to unload as many big contracts as they could – a process that might even begin as soon as spring training 2.0 this year, assuming there is a spring training 2.0. One exec’s take: “There’s no question you’ll see teams try to unload money. But they might have no one to unload them to” – because, theoretically, even the big-market teams will be reeling after losing hundreds of millions of dollars in 2020 revenues.

 

PAYROLLS: An official of a small-market club described the financial hit being absorbed by many teams this way: “There will be a lot of focus on short-term economics and the impact on free agency. But the economic impact of this (season) will be felt for years, and it will affect (payrolls) for years in an industry that’s borrowing $2.4 billion just to operate. At some point, you can’t borrow any more. There’s only so much money banks will loan you before they say, ‘We can’t loan you any more.’”

Edited June 18, 2020 by Elktonnick

[mvp 78]

If true, then why would Betts not have to replay the final year of his contract next year with the Dodgers. No season, no service year. It would seem that this would be a reset year given the Sox made all the necessary cuts.

 

Manfred has hinted that maybe they would just reset everyone even if the season was cancelled, but nothing has been set in stone.

 

My guess is that John Henry would pitch quite a fit if he's forced to reset next year. I bet that some of the larger market clubs would back Henry in this fight and it wouldn't really be prudent for Manfred to force these owners to reset next year if he wanted to keep his job.