MLBPA chief Tony Clark has issued another statement through the union’s official Twitter feed. In it, he makes clear the union’s position regarding the present state of negotiations regarding the attempted launch of a 2020 season.
Clark characterizes his recent meeting with commissioner Rob Manfred as follows:
“In my discussions with Rob in Arizona we explored a potential pro rata framework, but I made clear repeatedly in that meeting and after it that there were a number of significant issues with what he proposed, in particular the number of games. It is unequivocally false to suggest that any tentative agreement or other agreement was reached in that meeting.”
The union did make clear yesterday, as reports emerged about a potential breakthrough, that it had not reached any formal agreement or even basic understanding. Today’s statement makes clear that the union believed the number of games for the 2020 season was a specific point of ongoing disagreement.
As for recent indications that ownership was upset that the union had issued a counterproposal, Clark says it isn’t just his side’s decision. Clark claims:
“In fact, in conversations within the last 24 hours, Rob invited a counterproposal for more games that he would take back to the owners. We submitted that counterproposal today.”
This public back and forth is obviously rather tiresome to follow. But the sides are obviously jockeying not only for immediate bargaining leverage, but also for potential position in the event that talks collapse and the dispute ends up in some kind of legal proceeding.
Why does this guy feel the need to reiterate so much?
Both he and Manfred trying to cover their rears it seems!
Wouldn’t you at this point? Mlbpa would love a grievance to make the owners open up some books to prove poor and the owners, imo, would rather lock them out than have that happen. So with such a large option looming, yes both are gonna try to cover their ends as best as possible especially with that loosley worded March agreement at the crux of it all…
I think everyone should open their books. Why not? Editors of News Papers have power.. Open their books. This site should open their books. Your tax returns should be made public. You have power, you post on a site.
Is it ever going to stop?
Why does this guy feel the need to reiterate so much? So repetitive
What does this guy feel the need to reiterate so much? So repetitive.
Echo, echo echo….
Now batting Manny Mota mota mota………
LOL! Thanks for the Airplane reference.
Pinch-hitting for Pedro Borbon…..
I wonder if Tony has Ted Strikers drinking problem…..
Could’t help myself : Just saw the movie again this last weekend. Still noticing things that I never noticed before in backgrounds that are hilarious!
PS………….I had the fish………….. 🙁
From the outside it appears both sides obviously picked the wrong week to quit smoking, drinking and sniffing glue…..
Hahaha never gonna get a deal done in time
Let’s see if i get this … MLB suggests 60 games, MLBPA suggests 70 games … hey, what about splitting the difference and scheduling 65 games??? Doesn’t take a stats guru to figure this out.
Can’t happen that way. It’s gotta be 64 (owners win!) or 66 (Players win!)….can’t be even. Nope- can’t let the FANS win- gotta be the owners or the players
65.5 games
The playoff money is what will blow things up
Play ball!!!!!
I would appreciate an agreement to play, and then an agreement to mutually step down. I’d rather not have a season than continuing this garbage in the media.
Frustrating.
Sounds like Clark has become more and more adept at talking out of both sides of his mouth depending on who he is talking too. His last three statements are trying to cover up what he actually did for both sides of the aisle.
And it makes for a sad shape of the game by BOTH sides to do this in the public eye always trying to blame the other side.
I think owners will agree to season with 65 games, but players will insist on 66… and because of that they will not reach an agreement.
Clearly then 65 games, plus 4.5 innings of a 66th game.
Solved!
Wow, Joe Charboneau a name I have not heard in a long time. I think he was ROY a year or two apart from the legendary Ron Kittle of my beloved team.
I’m one of those guys who knows way too much about baseball, and not enough about everything else!
Kitty!
It’s becoming painfully clear that neither side wants to play this year. “When and where” was just a slogan to show unity. Flying to Phoenix was just a show. Pretty soon we will be at 66 games, 3 innings and 2 outs. Then they will start to discuss virus safety. I never thought I would say this, but I am losing my love for the game. Cancel 2020.
I don’t think it was a ruse. It was just obvious that the players were going to be filing a grievance even if they reported for whatever schedule Manfred put out there. The owners didn’t want to take that risk.
I think Tony and Rob need to get into a room and have a breath holding contest. Whoever holds their breath the longest gets their way 60 or 70 games. Play ball already!
Better yet, put them in front of a bunch of cameras and microphones, first one to talk loses. Whole thing would last less than a minute.
I have been a Yankee fan for 54 years. I am mad at hell with players. They do not understand what baseball is to the fans. My first hero was Mantle my last Judge. In 10 years there will be anther. Go Back!!!
How do they not understand? Surely all of them were fans before becoming players.
Really? So this is all the players fault cuz they don’t know what its like to be fans? it seems to me that owners are accountable somewhere a long the line. I might even go so far as to say they have the majority of fault. Look no business owner wants to lose money and almost all small market/rebuilding teams would love to punt on this season because of that (except the rays who I think they see this as an easier way to win a title). Since we are in America those teams are in their best interest not to play. I know all about building the game during this timeb but those small teams will rely on the yanks and sox and dodgers etc to pick them back up after this has cleared and do it for them, all well minimizing their own payouts right now.
Tony Clark is going to ruin Baseball and they won’t be making all there millions then.Because there they of people’s just worry if they are going to be able to feed there family.And they are about another million or not.
what?
Don’t you speak Dothraki?
Huh?
My reading of Manfred’s comments yesterday is that there is a framework in place for an agreement and that they just needed to negotiate games played between 60 and 70. Forcefully saying “there is no agreement” is just posturing at this point. Time to hug it out guys.
its like he’s just saying there’s no deal for the sake of being argumentative
No he’s not!!
Sorry… couldn’t resist…
#whenandwhere
way to go, Clark – keep bargaining via Twitter.
When we get our 60-ish game season, you know that the fans now detest you and your greedy players, right, Mr Clark?
What is honestly the point for 50-70 games? I mean just last year our World Series Champs were 19-31.
Check out this article: “There is a good chance that baseball purists everywhere will be up in arms about how the 2020 champion wasn’t a “legitimate” champion. Fake season!
Please.
We always knew the 2020 season would be different. We can’t escape that.
Fluky stuff happens anyway, though. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say “1987 Minnesota Twins.” I’m betting the overwhelming majority of people would say “World Series champions” instead of “85-win team that had a negative run differential who somehow beat a 98-win team in five games in the ALCS.”
How about the 1981 World Series? “Dodgers over Yankees,” right? Not “strike-shortened season that determined the playoffs in such a way the team with the actual best record in baseball (Reds) missed the playoffs.”
The Giants won three titles in a five-year span in the 2010s and they were never the best team in the regular season. We don’t remember them as anything other than the Even Year Dynasty. ”
cbssports.com/mlb/news/six-reasons-to-embrace-pote…
Actually, I remember all of those mediocre teams.
I love baseball and I miss it, but any season this short isn’t a real season and I’ll never look at the “winners” as real champions. Even if my team won it, it just wouldn’t feel like we really earned it. It would feel fake
Think of it from this perspective – though the season isn’t normal by any measures, the winner of the 2020 season will have done it by the same constraints as every other team in the league and they will have done it with more transparency and parity than the 2017 Astros or 2018 Red Sox, neither of whom have official asterisks next to their titles.
If those two teams don’t have asterisks, the 2020 champion shouldn’t either. Game #1 will be just as important as the last game of the regular season.
I believe he’s trying to say 50 games isn’t enough To show which teams are deserving of a playoff spot.
It seems like the Players Association will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
They will never get to an agreement
IF the only issue is number of games then they should split the difference and call it a day.. This is insane
I’m really tired of listening to the owners and players argue over money… it’s causing me to lose interest in the sport
It would be so baseball to be this close (60 games v. 70 games) and NOT reach an agreement. I would laugh my behind off.
I’m sorry…. haven’t heard anything on the biggest elephant in the room. Plans to play with the corona virus. Not hearing anything on the health aspects.
I can’t see how how they’re going to play when the states they’ve mentioned all have the largest outbreaks in the country. Just saying
The biggest elephant in the room……I was assuming that you were referring to Scott Boras….
regarding the next biggest elephant, I believe the union and ownership had that part mostly worked out. If it can be believed. The health experts are all over the place. Fauci says baseball should not be played past late October but yet has been silent on football, basketball, hockey and soccer. He earlier had said that he did not see an issue in playing football this season without fans. Why suddenly only baseball is a risk when the other sports (yes even soccer) demand more physical contact than baseball does.
This was posted on the Pro Football Rumors site this morning. Fauci has no longer been silent about the NFL.
profootballrumors.com/2020/06/dr-fauci-nfl-needs-b…
He actually commented on the NFL earlier today, questioning if it should be played.
Bingo BigJon
Will the players be quarantined? How many positive on one team to delay/cancel games? Several players have said if they play, they need to be with their families. Interesting this has been avoided the last couple weeks.
As I posted earlier — look up U. of Texas football — 13 players have Covid now.
These new reported outbreaks are all a bunch of lies so they can try to lock us down again. It was so predictable that these bogus reports would quickly surface once states began “reopening.” Bet Gretchen can’t wait for Michigan to have a huge fake spike in new cases.
Wow Buzzed, isn’t there a Bigfoot or alien abduction seminar your missing? Time to step out of the gene pool eh?
they both need to stfu and stop issuing statements until we get the one we want
This is so annoying! We need baseball, get your ducks in a row guys, it’s time.
Whew, thank God.
For a minute I thought the two sides would agree to play baseball….
Lock themselves in a room and hammer out, or cancel the season.
Every story damages their sport more at this point.
How about just lock themselves in a room? Don’t talk or anything, just lock themselves away so we don’t have to hear their constant bickering and horsecrap.
I would sure hate to be a Free Agent the next few years. Collusion or not, I would expect the owners will not be thrilled handing out large contracts following these bitter negotiations and with the loss of revenue in 2020.
Will Mookie get $300+? Any best guesses on Mookie’s contract?
Mookie will never see anything close to what the Sox offered him.
You don’t think he’ll get close to 300 million?
I’ll take that bet (no pun intended)…
Well, please learn your lesson from the March “agreement” and clearly define the term “close to 300 million!!”
I personally think he’ll see 300 million, but after a 1 year launchpad contract. Too much time without baseball has passed, so a year to show the goods again and then a longer 300+ contract. That’s unless there is some actual baseball this season and he takes for 50 ish games.
The players won’t accept a deal. They obviously want to be the ones whose deal gets accepted.
What Tony Clark fails to realise is that the longer it takes to reach an agreement, the less games that will be able to be played. Spend another week arguing and then next week the owners will offer 55 games and the players will counter with 60. Start Spring 2.0 and then iron out the details while the players are ramping back up
If a season occurs, the context of the games and subsequent playoffs will be recognized. Baseball is a needed respite from the global turmoil and whatever relief the world can get right now would be greatly appreciated. I have almost lost all rooting interest for my favorite team and simply want to se the best players play.
Have Lucy run this by Desi.
More like have Moe run it by Curly.
Whether zero games are played or 70 games, AJ Hinch, Jeff Lunhow and Alex Cora will have, some how, fulfilled their suspensions/punishment.
But will they get hired again?
They said when and where and 60 games…. why the players felt the need to come back with 70 games rather than just accepting the proposal…. is beyond comprehension , unless it’s just to quibble over something else….
Looks like a deal is finally imminent. Hopefully the C- virus doesn’t ruin the season.
Millionaires vs Billionaires.
The show is more enjoyable than the game itself!
Do you know what a colossal waste of time is? The major league baseball owners and the major-league baseball players association continually dissing one another about who is trying to screw who out of money and preventing a baseball season from happening. Any Immunologist or Virologist can tell you that there is no way they are going to be able to play a season regardless of the number of games, and have playoffs all the way through the World Series starting any date soon through and concluding by the end of October or early November without compromising lots of lives. Including those of players, coaches team employees and even the owners and their families should they attend games. Just shut the mother down for 2020; owners take your billions and players take your millions and donate the funds to help develop a goddamned vaccine so you stand at least a small chance of playing in 2021. Because unless a vaccine is developed soon, produced in large enough quantities to make the world safe, distributed throughout the world and actually trusted enough by people so they take it, you might not be playing until 2023 or later. 
Since there isn’t other sports going on, I find this back and forth enlightening and amusing.
I’m amazed these two adults, can’t seem to speak the same language. Let alone agree.
Ugh, no advertising on uniforms. This isn’t futbol.
Very interesting the players want more games when all they did was ‘fear for their life’s and the corona virus, not a month ago.
I guess money talks huh, MLBPA?
Clark is a CLOWN
Cancel the season don’t pay the baby’s then they will play or talk
Ain’t gonna be baseball this year!
Boras is right…and wrong. The franchise values have risen dramatically in the last few years. Yes! But that’s because of investments in new stadiums, baseball villages, amenities, etc. The debt service on these new stadiums is exorbitant! So the owners are not swimming in cash – which unlike franchise valuations – is what is used to pay players. This is not a “woe is me” for the owners…but using franchise valuations as a reason for salary increases is preposterous.
Franchise valuations and net worth of owners or whatever does NOT equal the balance in their checking account.
Players deserve the contracts they negotiated! Absolutely. But owners deserve the right to profit from their investment and risk. Chris Davis doesn’t have to give back his money after he signs his contract and hits .085 with 350 Ks. The owners use the money from TV to service debt on gorgeous ballparks which give the fans AND players a better experience. They use tix sales to pay salaries. And remember, in addition to the $200MM some teams spend, they also have large staffs…GM, scouts, sales, etc… I have no problem with players saying “I agreed to $500k per game, I should get paid $500k per game” and I have no problem with owners saying “without tix sales, I can only afford to pay you for 50 or 60 games.” Just make a deal already or don’t.
If your house increases in value from $300,000 to $400,000 but your income dips from $100,000 to $60,000…I’d bet most people would be mowing their own grass and dining out less. Sure your net worth increased, but your income decreased. That’s what is happening here. There is no dispute that with fewer games and no tix sales, income decreases. To point simply to franchise valuations is just silly.
And that’s not even considering your mortgage.
The game runs on revenue, not franchise valuations or whatever google says the net worth of the principal owner is.
What happen to MLBPA saying just tell us when and where?
Can we finally disabuse ourselves of the notion that Clark is actually trying to reach a solution here?
I don’t think people realize we have a pandemic.
To prevent the spread to all the teams in the league. You need longer series. You need a couple days off a week. And what happens if a player gets this. That team is quarantined. And what about the team they are playing? So you have two teams that are not going to play for a week.
The greater the number of games, the greater the risk to the players, season and post season.
The Players Union doesn’t care about the health of it’s players, but they proved that in the PED era.
Take of Monday and Thursday. Five games a week, have five game series. Test constantly.
If fans want to play two series a week, and seven days a week, i don’t think you’ll finish the season. I think the owners realize this, I don’t think the Players Union care about their players.