Third Bidder For Mets Emerges
As Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez bolster their group to bid on the Mets and a group led by the owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils also eyes a bid, a third potential buyer for the Mets appears to have surfaced. Scott Soshnick of Variety reports that brothers David and Simon Reuben, whose combined estimated worth is a whopping $14 billion, are now “exploring” a bid. Real estate opportunities in the area surrounding Citi Field are likely a driving factor in the interest, per the report.
The Reuben brothers, both in their mid- to late-70s, have built their empire through a series of real estate endeavors, investments in tech companies and in retail over in the United Kingdom. David Hellier and Natalie Wong of Bloomberg reported less than two months ago that the Reubens purchased a retail condo near Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center as they looked to expand their enterprise to New York, and a bid for the Mets would seemingly align with that interest. They’ve also expanded their residential real estate efforts into Madrid (via Bloomberg) and expressed interest in purchasing a stake in an English Premier League club.
With the Wilpon family reportedly looking to complete a sale of the team — but, according to Newsday, not the SNY Network — by year’s end, we’ve seen increased interest surfacing over the past month. Of course, the Mets believed they were already on the cusp of a gradual, five-year sale to billionaire Steve Cohen last December. At the time of the agreement, Cohen would’ve taken over an 80 percent stake of the club by 2025. However, that deal crumbled in February and left the Wilpons seeking a new buyer.
The economic downturn brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic complicates matters and will significantly cut the valuation of the franchise, but the extent isn’t yet known — nor is the level of bid which any of three potential buyers is planning. The two most recent sales of MLB clubs, the Royals in 2019 ($1 billion) and the Marlins in 2017 ($1.2 billion) both illustrate the demand for franchises, though. And as we saw with the Marlins’ sale, it’s possible that several permutations of ownership groups headed by the same principal figures could come together and fizzle thereafter before a deal is ultimately agreed upon.
Latest On Potential Changes In Shortened 2020 Season
Major League Baseball has now made clear its hope for players to report to a rebooted training camp on July 1 and a July 24-26 opener. ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweeted last night that the league expects the MLBPA to respond to those dates and the health and safety protocols by 5pm ET today.
Exactly what the final iteration of those health-and-safety protocols will look like isn’t yet clear, although there are some standing indications of what to anticipate. There’s been plenty of back-and-forth about what changes might be put into place for the 2020 season, and while it’s all subject to change until the two sides have a formal agreement, it’s worth taking a pass through where things stand.
The Athletic’s Jayson Stark tweeted yesterday that a universal DH in 2020 was included in the initial version of health and safety protocols. The lack of a formal agreement means that the arrival of the universal DH in 2020 isn’t yet official, but MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that “both sides see value” in its implementation — at least for this season. The two parties will presumably discuss its implementation in future seasons this winter.
Also likely to remain in place, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, will be the realignment that sees each team play only within its own division and against the five teams of the corresponding division in the other league. The exact permutations of that scheduling arrangement could take a variety of forms (e.g. a pair of three-game series and one four-game series against divisional opponents, plus one four-game series against each of the five teams in the opposing league’s corresponding division), but the goal will be to generally limit travel schedules to the extent possible, not that it’s a perfect setup for all clubs. It’s not as though Seattle and Arlington are exactly next door, for instance.
The travel schedule impacts the Blue Jays, in particular. The lone Canadian club in MLB, the Jays’ scheduling would appear to be up in the air after Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau extended the U.S./Canada border closure for non-essential travel until July 21. Non-essential air travel into the U.S. is still permitted, but returning to Canada would not be so straightforward.
Toronto’s Triple-A club is housed in nearby Buffalo, N.Y., so perhaps that could be deemed an acceptable alternate site, but that remains speculative. The Blue Jays last week closed down their spring facility in Dunedin, Fla. indefinitely after a player who’d been in contact with some of his Phillies peers displayed COVID-19 symptoms. The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond suggests that the Jays could share Tropicana Field with the Rays.
Other changes may well be on the horizon. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote over the weekend that the league and union had already agreed to begin extra innings with a runner on second base in an effort to avoid marathon games. (Pitchers would not be charged with an earned run if said runner scores.) They’ve also discussed the possibility of allowing already subbed-out players to reenter the game once it reaches extras and even discussed the possibility of ties in 2020, per Nightengale.
None of that is set in stone until the MLBPA formally agrees to the league’s health and safety protocols. While the ridiculous length and contentious nature of the scheduling half of return-to-play negotiations should caution against any assumptions that they’ll be approved without any pushback at all, we’ll get a better sense of where things stand by 5pm ET today.
MLBPA Voting On 60-Game Proposal
4:27pm: The vote is taking place right now, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter).
12:48pm: The meeting has been pushed from 3pm ET to 5pm ET, tweets Jim Bowden of The Athletic. The union is still expected to reject the proposal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets.
11:25am: The Major League Baseball Players Association is meeting this afternoon to vote on the league’s proposal for a 60-game season, ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reports (Twitter links). Reports over the weekend had indicated that a union vote would take place “in the coming days.” Thirty-eight players — the MLBPA’s eight-man executive subcommittee and each team’s individual union rep — are weighing in.
Tensions flared again last week as commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA chief Tony Clark again failed to even agree on what defines an agreement. The two had an in-person meeting early last week, and Manfred came away suggesting that the meeting produced a “jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement.”
Despite the use of “could form the basis” in that statement (as opposed to a concrete declaration of accord), ownership was of the mind that an agreement had at last been reached. The union disagreed and countered with a 70-game schedule. Angry at receiving a counter when they believed a deal to be in place, owners informed the MLBPA that they would not play a season greater than 60 games in length and would not make a counter-offer.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last night that the league was prepared to make some concessions outside the length of schedule, including its willingness to give up expanded playoffs and the universal DH in 2021 in the event that a full season isn’t played. That would serve to avoid a scenario where ownership gets the expanded 2021 playoffs it has clearly coveted even as players don’t see the salary or length of schedule for which they so ardently pushed over the course of this interminable back-and-forth.
Citing an email from Manfred to Clark, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that next Monday (June 29) is the earliest that a relaunched Spring Training could resume. Manfred himself is quoted saying as much. Nightengale also indicates that the earliest the league believes the season can commence is July 26.
There’s been longstanding speculation that the league’s ultimate goal was to wait this out so long that the length of season the MLBPA desired simply isn’t feasible because of the calendar. Whether that motivation is accurate, we’re nearing that point. A June 29 launch to a new training camp that lasts three weeks would bring us to July 20. That might leave some slight wiggle room to start the season earlier than the July 26 date conveyed by Nightengale, but the league has made abundantly clear that it has no plans to extend regular-season play beyond Sept. 27 or to play more than 60 games.
If no agreement is reached, it’s likely that Manfred will implement a season of shorter length (and without an expanded postseason format). At that point, the union could file a grievance arguing MLB did not make its “best efforts to play as many games as possible,” which was stipulated in the March agreement that allows Manfred to impose a season length.
All of this back-and-forth regarding the season length is happening while the league and union discuss safety protocols following a week that saw 40 players and team personnel test positive for the coronavirus. The manner in which the league formulates a plan to limit and (when they do inevitably occur) address similar in-season outbreaks is the other major and far less clear component of return-to-play negotiations.
A-Rod, J. Lo Reportedly Add Billionaire Mike Repole To Mets Bid
Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez have added some more clout to their bid to buy the Mets, bringing billionaire Mike Repole into their group, per ESPN’s Darren Rovell (Twitter link). The 51-year-old Queens native co-founded Glaceau/Energy Brands, the original creator of Vitamin Water, in addition to co-founding the BODYARMOR sports drink company. Repole also owns his own stable which has several notable racehorses.
It’s not the first time that Repole has expressed an interest in purchasing his hometown club, per Josh Kosman and Zach Braziller of the New York Post. He previously expressed interest in 2011 but did not make a formal bid. And while Repole’s roughly $1 billion net worth eclipses the combined worth of Rodriguez and Lopez by most calculations, Kosman and Braziller report that A-Rod and J. Lo are still expected to be the designated control owners of the team.
According to the Post, Repole is one of two investors working with Galatioto Sports Partners — an investment bank that could contribute approximately a quarter billion dollars to the bid. The A-Rod/J. Lo group has also been working with JPMorgan in their efforts to compile a bid, and other investors could yet join the fray. Rovell notes that the bid from Rodriguez and Lopez is “very real.”
The Rodriguez/Lopez group is up against a group headed up by Philadelphia 76ers/New Jersey Devils owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer in their pursuit to buy the Mets. No other suitors are known right now, although other groups could yet emerge. Regardless, it’s become increasingly clear in recent months that Mets ownership, led by the Wilpon family, are amenable to a sale of the team. Back in December, New York billionaire Steve Cohen reportedly agreed to a framework on a gradual sale that would see him increase his stake in the club to 80 percent by 2025. However, that deal fell apart in February, when Cohen officially pulled out of the deal.
Given the economic crash that has been brought about by the ongoing pandemic, it’s all but certain that the Mets would sell well shy of the $2.6 billion figure that was reported back in December. However, the lost revenue to date — and any further projected losses even if a 2020 season commences — could also increase the Wilpons’ urgency to sell a majority stake in the team.
MLB, MLBPA Making Final Negotiation Effort
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association are making a “last-minute attempt at haggling” in hopes of reaching an agreement on a deal regarding the 2020 season, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney. It seems the last-ditch effort to find a common ground is the reason that the MLBPA has twice delayed its scheduled meeting to vote on MLB’s 60-game proposal.
If the two sides aren’t able to reach a compromise, commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to implement a season at a length of the league’s choosing. Doing so would ensure the players their prorated salaries for the duration of the 2020 season and would not include the expanded playoffs which the union has offered to ownership. Barring an agreement between the two sides, we’re down to the “last hours” before Manfred implements a season length, per Olney.
Throughout this process, both parties have maintained that they hope to reach a deal rather than have a season set by Manfred under the preexisting March agreement. Players are hopeful of reaching a negotiated agreement because doing so would result in playing more games at their prorated salary levels. Ownership wants a negotiated deal because that’s the only means of achieving the significant playoff expansion (and thus postseason revenue) in 2020-21. The March agreement indicates that players would need to sign off on postseason expansion.
To this point, onlookers are plenty aware that neither side has been willing to come down off its key points. The union is insisting on prorated salary, and the league is staunchly against pushing regular-season play beyond Sept. 27 and — as of last week — opposed to playing any more than 60 games at prorated levels of pay.
The exact points that the two sides are discussing aren’t clear, although Joel Sherman of the New York Post provides a bit of insight (all Twitter links). The league has told the union that it can only offer forgiveness on the standing $170MM advance to players on split contracts (a total of about $33MM that would effectively only be paid to the game’s lowest-paid players) and that no money would be added to the players’ share of the 2020-21 playoff pool. If fewer than 50 games are played, though, the league would strike the agreements on expanded playoffs and a universal DH in 2021.
Whatever the specifics, it doesn’t appear that length of schedule is among the points of negotiation at this juncture. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the two sides are trying to work out an agreement on a 60-game season and that failing a negotiated agreement, Manfred will implement a season of 54 to 60 games.
Notably, ESPN’s Ben Cafardo tweets that Manfred is expected to speak on television soon. That certainly suggests that a resolution could finally be nigh — whether it’s Manfred announcing a deal with the union or simply announcing that he has implemented a season length under the March agreement.
We still don’t have a sense for how the league plans to address additional COVID-19 outbreaks within the sport, which we saw last week when 40 players and staff members tested positive (including eight in one organization). If a season length is at long last settled upon today — one way or another — the two sides they can pivot their full attention to that critical component of return-to-play talks.
KBO’s Hanwha Eagles Sign Brandon Barnes, Waive Jared Hoying
The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization have waived outfielder Jared Hoying and signed another former big leaguer, Brandon Barnes, to replace him on the roster, Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports. The 34-year-old Barnes can earn up to $200K on his midseason deal, though only have that sum is guaranteed (with the rest available via incentives).
Barnes last popped up in the Majors back in 2018, when he hit well in a late-season cup of coffee with the Indians (.261/.333/.421 in 21 plate appearances). However, he hasn’t been a mainstay on a big league roster since his 2012-16 run between the Astros and Rockies. The former sixth-round pick (Astros, 2005) is a career .242/.290/.357 hitter in nearly 1300 Major League plate appearances and a .264/.329/.444 hitter in his Triple-A career. He split last season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Indians and Twins, connecting on 30 homers while adding 30 doubles and 11 steals. He’s capable of playing any of the three outfield slots.
Hoying, 31, was in his third season with the Eagles. He briefly saw MLB action with the 2016-17 Rangers but received only 126 plate appearances. He took the KBO by storm in 2017, erupting with a .306/.369/.573 slash, 30 home runs, 47 doubles, two triples and 23 stolen bases in his debut campaign. That easily earned him another contract with the Eagles, but Hoying hasn’t reached those height since. He still logged a solid .284/.340/.460 line last season, but he’s off to a dismal .194/.254/.323 start through 134 plate appearances this season.
Barnes isn’t expected to join the roster until July, Yoo details. He’ll complete a physical and go through a 14-day quarantine process before being added to the active roster. He’ll hope to help turn the tide for a last-place Eagles club that has slumped to a disastrous 10-32 record to begin the season.
Nationals Agree To Terms With Cade Cavalli, Sammy Infante
The Nationals announced Friday that they’ve officially signed first-round pick Cade Cavalli. The Oklahoma right-hander was the No. 22 overall pick in this year’s truncated draft.
Washington has also agreed to terms with compensation pick Sammy Infante, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). He’ll receive $1MM, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets, which is slightly more than his No. 71 overall slot value of $884,200.
The Athletic’s Keith Law was the most bullish on Cavalli among most prominent pre-draft rankings, listing him as this year’s No. 13 prospect. Cavalli landed 17th at FanGraphs and 22nd (matching his actual draft position) at both Baseball America and MLB.com. ESPN placed him 24th.
A clear consensus first-rounder, the 6’4″, 225-pound righty was a two-way player for part of his college career but will focus on mound work as a pro. Law writes that Cavalli has been up to 97 mph with the fastball and has pair of power breaking pitches to complement that heater — ultimately tabbing him as a potential No. 2 starter should things go well for the 21-year-old.
Infante, a shortstop out of Florida’s Monsignor Edward Pace High School, had been committed to the University of Miami but will forgo college to begin his pro career. He didn’t rate among the top 100 prospects on any draft boards, but did feature among the next hundred names on several. ESPN.com was most bullish, ranking him 122nd. Baseball America opines that Infante stands out for his “nice collection of above-average tools.”
Blue Jays Shut Down Spring Facility
The Blue Jays have shut down their Spring Training facility in Dunedin, Fla. after a player displayed symptoms of COVID-19, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports (Twitter thread). There’s no positive test yet, but Passan notes that the player in question is on Toronto’s 40-man roster and had recently spent time with players in the Phillies’ system. The Jays’ Dunedin complex is just six miles from the Phillies’ spring facility in Clearwater, where eight people — five players and three staffers — have tested positive for the coronavirus over the past three days. Another 32 tests of Phillies players and personnel are still pending results.
Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets that about 20 players have been working out at the Jays’ spring facility, including about 10 players who are on the 40-man roster. Passan adds, however, that multiple players have yet to even be tested at all — despite GM Ross Atkins telling him the team has been “overly precautious with testing.” Should reopening the Dunedin facilities untenable, that’d create problems for the Jays even if a 2020 season can come together. As Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith points out, Dunedin has been a fallback option in the event that government regulations prevent the Jays from hosting games at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays’ Dunedin closure adds to a growing list of concerns as professional sports teams have sought to begin play after months of shutdowns. Beyond the positive tests in Clearwater and the symptoms in Dunedin, it’s also important to note that the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have shut down their facilities after three players and a pair of staff members tested positive for COVID-19. The NFL’s 49ers also had a player test positive in Nashville, Tenn. earlier today, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. A member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching staff has also tested positive.
Taken together, it’s all a sobering reminder that the largest roadblock to return to regular-season play in any sport is not (and has not been) finances or length of season but the ongoing pandemic. Even if the players in question make full recoveries — which obviously is not a given — they still have families to consider, more at-risk members of the coaching and training staffs surrounding them, umpires, team personnel, etc. Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported this morning that positive infections have already spread to multiple members of the infected members of the Phillies organization. Similar instances of spreading are likely to occur — particularly with positive cases on the rise not only in Florida but also in Arizona, Texas and California, among other states.
Twins Agree To Terms With Sign Second- And Fourth-Round Picks
The Twins have agreed to terms with second-round pick Alerick Soularie and fourth-round pick Marco Raya, reports Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). They’re also expected to finish up a deal with first-rounder Aaron Sabato before long. He’ll be in town for a physical next week, per Wolfson.
Soularie, 20, had a huge freshman season with San Jacinto College in Texas before transferring to the University of Tennessee and posting similarly impressive sophomore numbers. In his two seasons with the Tennessee program (2019 and this year’s shortened 2020 campaign), the outfielder batted a combined .336/.448/.586 with 16 homers, 14 doubles, a triple and 10 steals in 311 plate appearances. The Cards initially drafted Soularie after his 2018 showing with San Jacinto, but not until the 29th round, so his decision not to sign at that point will pay substantial dividends. Soularie’s No. 59 slot comes with a $1.19MM slot value.
MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets that Soularie’s bonus will check in at $900K, which falls a bit shy of his No. 59 overall slot’s $1.185MM value. Pre-draft rankings on Soularie ranged from 105th overall at MLB.com to 175th at Baseball America and 193rd at FanGraphs. He’s touted for his hit tool and what is currently an all-fields, line-drive approach. MLB.com’s report on him suggests that he could eventually tap into 20-homer power, though, and Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs noted that Soularie has “some similarities to Khris Davis.”
Raya, meanwhile, was a Texas Tech commit who ranked 238th on Longenhagen’s list and 291st at BA. Both reports on him note that he has an above-average slider and a heater that reaches the mid-90s, with praising his ability to spin not only a slider but also a potentially above-average curveball. Raya is just 6’0″ and 160 pounds, so some scouts surely questioned his size.
Five Phillies Players, Three Staff Members Test Positive For Coronavirus
12:03pm: Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the outbreak has spread to multiple family members of the five players and three staffers.
11:35am: The Phillies issued the following statement:
In response to published reports and the questions that those reports have raised, the Phillies are confirming that 5 players and 3 staff members working at the club’s Clearwater facility have tested positive for Covid-19. The first confirmed case occurred this past Tuesday, June 16. In addition, 8 staff members have tested negative for the virus, while 12 staff members and 20 players (both major league and minor league players) living in the Clearwater area are in the process of being tested and are awaiting the results of those tests. … In terms of the implications of this outbreak on the Phillies’ 2020 season, the club declines comment, believing that it is too early to know.
Owner John Middleton added in a personal statement that the team is “committed to the health and welfare of our players, coaches and staff as our highest priority” and, as a result, the team’s spring complex in Clearwater has been closed indefinitely.
11:00am: Five players and three staffers at the Phillies’ Spring Training complex in Clearwater, Fla., have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports reports. None of the cases have required hospitalization to this point, although the rapid manner in which the outbreak spread through camp even without a full roster and staff present, certainly illustrates the risks and complications that could arise even if MLB and the Players Association are actually able to hammer out an agreement. Notably, Salisbury adds that a “significant number of team personnel” are still waiting on results, so further positive tests are possible.
Phillies players have been working out at Clearwater’s Spectrum Field for several weeks, but Salisbury writes that despite limited group sizes and strict safety precautions, the virus quickly spread through Phillies camp.
It’s obviously good news that none of the positive tests have required hospitalization, but the sheer volume of positive cases is still an ominous sign. An outbreak like this during the regular season would require quarantine for a substantial portion of the affected active roster, and most teams would have at least a couple of older members of the coaching staff in proximity to the outbreak. The potential for spreading the virus to the opposing team at a time when multiple members of the roster are perhaps playing asymptomatically also can’t be overlooked.
The outbreak at Phillies camp comes at a time when the broad focus has been on the exhausting series of strategic leaks and vaguely worded statements from MLB and the MLBPA as ownership and players butt heads over the length of the season. So much emphasis has been placed on the financial battle that the yet-to-be-agreed-upon health/safety protocols and the very real potential for COVID-19 outbreaks in close-quarters clubhouse settings have, to some extent, faded from the discussion in recent days.
The latest report out of Florida abruptly thrusts that portion of the debate back to the forefront. And with cases on the rise in key states like Florida, Arizona, Texas and California, the potential for similar instances is prevalent. It was never realistic to expect that there would be no positive tests or even team-wide outbreaks. The goal was to limit such occurrences and prevent mass-scale infections. Still, it’s discouraging that a limited group which represents a fraction of the group that would be gathering for a full-season schedule has produced a rather substantial number of cases. If nothing else, the Phillies’ Clearwater outbreak seems likely to cause all parties to revisit even the elements of the health and safety protocols on which they’ve generally agreed, so as to ensure they are sufficient for both sides.