COVID-19 impact on MLB season

[MVP2110]

I would really like to know the opinions of some fringe major Leaguers. The ones where this might be their only shot at being in the majors or the veterans who this might be their last shot. What do they think? It's easy for the players who know they will be back next season to say just wait it out.

[AJOHNSON104]

I would really like to know the opinions of some fringe major Leaguers. The ones where this might be their only shot at being in the majors or the veterans who this might be their last shot. What do they think? It's easy for the players who know they will be back next season to say just wait it out.

 

I agree that this is the population that could sway a decision to play. The guy who is trying to get that extra year of service time to get a pension (or to free agency), the guy who is on the bubble of being a DFA if he doesn't show something, etc. That was a similar group that seemed to carry the vote in the NFLPA contract approval (before the virus issue surfaced). The guy who is going to be a minimum salary player, and has been underpaid i the minors for multiple years, sees a chance to finally get out of debt, buy a house, etc. He would be playing this year for about $550k. Half that is $275K. I don't think he'd want to give up more of that, but the advantages of getting a year of "real money" and service time is invaluable to that guy. There are a lot more of those players on rosters than there are superstars.

[KeithStone53151]

I'll add my 2 cents on this. I really don't take that much issue with certain players stance. It's certainly one of those things where it's better to hold your opinion and keep your mouth shut than open your mouth and inevitably upset people. Generally better for all that stuff to happen behind closed doors. Looking at Blake Snell's little 2 minute rant in particular, he makes a number of excellent points. If any of you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it. And ignore the whiny aspects of his rant and focus on the substance of what he actually says.

 

I almost always side with the owners on stuff like this, but I'm 100% on the players side here. I'll also add that regardless of how they slice up the $ when that inevitably happens, every player should have the option to sit out the season and not get paid or accrue service time. Some version of an exempt list. There are players with conditions that would make them high risk, and they should have the option to put their health first without a negative consequence...in my opinion.

[KeithStone53151]

Here's the problem with all of that. The players literally are the ones "taking the risk" in this scenario. The owners are asking the players to go out and play, risk their health, their families health, and take a paycut, since apparently they don't want to honor the original deal.

 

There are CEO's right now taking zero salary while their businesses are taking massive hits. I know, I know, you can't compare baseball to anything else. Doesn't matter. When you're an owner, you don't pass the financial risk on to your employees. You just don't. If your employee makes 13 dollars an hour or 17 million a year, if you're financially struggling, it is what it is. If you owe a guy 30,000 for a game check, that's what you owe them. You can't say "weeeeeell, we don't have fans in the stands, so I'm gonna cut you back a bit." 7-11 isn't cutting their people back 2 or 3 dollars an hour. It's not apples to apples, but the point is, if you're playing 80 games, pay the guys 80 games of what they're supposed to get PAID. THAT is the risk of being an owner. It always has been.

 

As much as I'm 100% on the players side, I generally don't like this argument. At the end of the day, the owners are going to win this battle. Sure, the players may end up winning a short term battle here...and probably will...but there's a strong chance the owners will make that money back by cutting payroll in the next couple years. There will probably be a couple ice cold years of free agency and far less long term extensions than there have been(or at least far less dollars offered...much more Freddy Peralta offers than Luis Robert offers). At the end of the day, it's a business...and the owners aren't going to run a business that loses money. Like it or not, that's a fact.

[LouisEly]

Here's the problem with all of that. The players literally are the ones "taking the risk" in this scenario. The owners are asking the players to go out and play, risk their health, their families health, and take a paycut, since apparently they don't want to honor the original deal.

The flipside of that is that the players are not taking any of the financial risk of not playing. That is 100% on the owners who still have non-player payroll, insurance, stadium upkeep, legal, financing, and other expenses without any revenue.

 

I linked to the ESPN article on the original deal - there were stipulations in the deal that must be met for the season to start, one of which was that there can't be any edicts or other bans against large gatherings or other things preventing play at home stadiums. It is looking like there will be edicts or bans against large gatherings through the summer, thus the "original deal" isn't valid. I think the whole "don't want to honor the original deal" is spin put on by the players who may or may not be aware of all of the stipulations of the deal.

[adambr2]

I'll add my 2 cents on this. I really don't take that much issue with certain players stance. It's certainly one of those things where it's better to hold your opinion and keep your mouth shut than open your mouth and inevitably upset people.

 

Yes. When my wife asks me if I think her friend is pretty, I shrug and say "She's okay." I don't go on for 2 minutes about what a great body she has.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I generally side with the players but the concept of a bunch of 20 and 30 something pro athletes playing quarantined baseball "risking their health" is getting pretty liberal with "risk."

 

They're both blowing a tremendous opportunity for baseball so that the NFL can swoop in and be America's sweetheart once again.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I generally side with the players but the concept of a bunch of 20 and 30 something pro athletes playing quarantined baseball "risking their health" is getting pretty liberal with "risk."

 

They're both blowing a tremendous opportunity for baseball so that the NFL can swoop in and be America's sweetheart once again.

 

Yep. Baseball could be a savior for a lot of people this summer. Can you imagine the pomp and circumstance having baseball on July 4 would bring, especially when most every other celebration across the country has already been or will probably be cancelled? It would truly be America's Game again.

 

I agree ... if baseball doesn't come back, it will be blamed on finances (even if health concerns play the bigger role), and the optics of it will look terrible. And you're never going to get a lot of those fans back.

[owbc]

My interpretation is that almost all of the negotiations are pre-2021 CBA talk. The safety stuff is mostly being used as leverage. When the deadline for negotiating 2020 comes up they will punt all of that to next year.

[adambr2]

Leverage for 2021 or not there is no appealing to public opinion on this one. The general public will be fairly disgusted with both sides if they can't figure this out.

 

Baseball really can't afford another 1994 fallout. They are struggling to appeal to younger generations already as it is.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Leverage for 2021 or not there is no appealing to public opinion on this one. The general public will be fairly disgusted with both sides if they can't figure this out.

 

Baseball really can't afford another 1994 fallout. They are struggling to appeal to younger generations already as it is.

 

Which is why this is so amazing to watch. A perfect opportunity was handed to them on a silver platter and they're going to let the NBA walk off with it.

[pacopete4]

Yep. The MLB just can’t get out of their own way. Concerned what the future of the game will look like down the road. They can’t/won’t even market their best players unless they’re in pinstripes.

[bacon06]

I think this just proves Rob Manfred really isn't a baseball fan

[KeithStone53151]

I think this just proves Rob Manfred really isn't a baseball fan

 

I don't know that it's fair to blame Manfred. He's just a mouthpiece for what the owners want. I highly doubt he gets impacted in any way based on how $ is split up. If you side with players, then the owners are the enemy...not Manfred.

[owbc]

It’s not easy to be the MLB commish...MLB fans have a tendency to push back hard against changes to the sport. Attempts to grow the fan base are often at odds with what the core group of fans wants. But there are some really obvious things that could be done to grow the sport over the long term and make fans happy and they are non-starters because they would hurt the short-term bottom line...e.g. ending blackouts. And the general obsession with profit above all means that nobody trusts Manfred to do the right thing for the sport. And the players rightfully do not trust anything coming from the owners for that reason. I still think they get a 2020 agreement but I worry about the next CBA.

[MrTPlush]

The whole MLB being some kind of summer savior for the country is kind of overblown. NASCAR is back last I checked, guessing Golf isn’t far off from starting, I saw the NHL wants to restart in July, and I bet the NBA would want to be back ASAP too.

 

If the MLB is starting up I imagine every other sports league would do the same if not soon after. MLB isn’t going to be the only sport on TV for months even if they owners/players shut up and agreed on something. The only thing they are doing is pissing off current fans, not missing out on some chance to make baseball the coolest thing in the country again.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The whole MLB being some kind of summer savior for the country is kind of overblown. NASCAR is back last I checked, guessing Golf isn’t far off from starting, I saw the NHL wants to restart in July, and I bet the NBA would want to be back ASAP too.

 

If the MLB is starting up I imagine every other sports league would do the same if not soon after. MLB isn’t going to be the only sport on TV for months even if they owners/players shut up and agreed on something. The only thing they are doing is pissing off current fans, not missing out on some chance to make baseball the coolest thing in the country again.

 

Real Heroes 400 was up 38% on TV from the last race. It was a three-year high for their TV broadcasts outside of Daytona...

 

You're pretty much making a straw man. This is less about MLB being a summer hero than it is about a sport that's already struggling, choosing not to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity.

 

Pissing off their current fans should be a huge concern to them. That's not some minor detail, they can't afford to lose them.

[jerichoholicninja]

The whole MLB being some kind of summer savior for the country is kind of overblown. NASCAR is back last I checked, guessing Golf isn’t far off from starting, I saw the NHL wants to restart in July, and I bet the NBA would want to be back ASAP too.

 

If the MLB is starting up I imagine every other sports league would do the same if not soon after. MLB isn’t going to be the only sport on TV for months even if they owners/players shut up and agreed on something. The only thing they are doing is pissing off current fans, not missing out on some chance to make baseball the coolest thing in the country again.

 

That and most parts of the country are or will open over the next few weeks. After being locked up for months I doubt many non-hardcore baseball fans are now going to sit in the house for 3 hours and watch a baseball game.

[jerichoholicninja]

The whole MLB being some kind of summer savior for the country is kind of overblown. NASCAR is back last I checked, guessing Golf isn’t far off from starting, I saw the NHL wants to restart in July, and I bet the NBA would want to be back ASAP too.

 

If the MLB is starting up I imagine every other sports league would do the same if not soon after. MLB isn’t going to be the only sport on TV for months even if they owners/players shut up and agreed on something. The only thing they are doing is pissing off current fans, not missing out on some chance to make baseball the coolest thing in the country again.

 

Real Heroes 400 was up 38% on TV from the last race. It was a three-year high for their TV broadcasts outside of Daytona...

 

I don't know if NASCAR's ratings could get any lower. It's amazing to me how NASCAR exploded for a few years in the late 90's/early 2000 and then just as quickly crashed back to earth.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

That kind of stopped last year, actually. They didn't really lose any ratings from 2018 to 2019, but F1 is really making them sweat and it's not hard to see why. The televised product blows NASCAR away IMO. But the ratings bump they got last week is pretty strong indicator that there is still quite a shortage of entertainment for most people.

 

Stuff opening up isn't really solving that issue that quickly. There are a bunch of people still choosing not to go anywhere and a bunch of people with no money.

[MrTPlush]

The whole MLB being some kind of summer savior for the country is kind of overblown. NASCAR is back last I checked, guessing Golf isn’t far off from starting, I saw the NHL wants to restart in July, and I bet the NBA would want to be back ASAP too.

 

If the MLB is starting up I imagine every other sports league would do the same if not soon after. MLB isn’t going to be the only sport on TV for months even if they owners/players shut up and agreed on something. The only thing they are doing is pissing off current fans, not missing out on some chance to make baseball the coolest thing in the country again.

 

Real Heroes 400 was up 38% on TV from the last race. It was a three-year high for their TV broadcasts outside of Daytona...

 

You're pretty much making a straw man. This is less about MLB being a summer hero than it is about a sport that's already struggling, choosing not to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity.

 

Pissing off their current fans should be a huge concern to them. That's not some minor detail, they can't afford to lose them.

 

Well right...NASCAR is basically the only “sport” right now...so it is seeing a huge ratings jump. That won’t be the same for baseball if it starts up in July. Every other sport will be too. NHL and NBA would be starting up with playoffs right away or very soon after they start up. I think NHL plans on immediate playoffs of some sort.

 

I’m just saying I’m not sure it is really a tremendous opportunity. Any increased interest is likely short lived, much like drive ins are seeing. Once things open up or next year all those people watching during quarantine won’t care. I just don’t think there is all that much to gain...something to lose? Maybe.

 

Even NASCAR, you think people suddenly watch it during quarantine and a notable amount actually stick to it once things normalize? I really doubt that.

[pacopete4]

Baseball always has and always will start at capturing the youth. If you don’t catch them young and make a connection, they won’t care.

[jerichoholicninja]

Baseball always has and always will start at capturing the youth. If you don’t catch them young and make a connection, they won’t care.

 

[sarcasm]You sound like a tobacco executive.[/sarcasm]

[pacopete4]

Baseball always has and always will start at capturing the youth. If you don’t catch them young and make a connection, they won’t care.

 

[sarcasm]You sound like a tobacco executive.[/sarcasm]

 

I missed my calling.

[JohnBriggs12]

I think this just proves Rob Manfred really isn't a baseball fan

 

I don't know that it's fair to blame Manfred. He's just a mouthpiece for what the owners want. I highly doubt he gets impacted in any way based on how $ is split up. If you side with players, then the owners are the enemy...not Manfred.

 

Leadership in a crisis is why the commissioner gets piles of money. Clearly Manfred hasn't been up to the task. The notion that players, none of whom have underlying medical conditions that put them at anything more than .000001% more risk than normal of dying from this virus or even being seriously ill, are able to use their "fear" as a negotiating tool is ridiculous. For heaven's sake, Nascar is putting them to shame as are every other major sport.