Newsstand

2:48pm: Jeff Passan of ESPN has more info on roster size: Teams would be able to carry 30 players for the first two weeks, 28 for the next two and 26 for the rest of the season. They’d be able to use a total of 60 players during the season.

2:45pm: The deadline for the union to accept this 72-game offer is Sunday night, per Nightengale, who adds that players who fear contracting the coronavirus can choose not to play. However, only high-risk players would still get paid and accrue service time. If the union approves, which seems unlikely, the league will announce a season timeline and a resumption of a 21-day spring training within 48 hours, Rosenthal reports. This plan would also suspend draft-pick compensation for the 2020-21 offseason and expand the playoffs to as many as eight teams per league. If the playoffs are completed, players would receive 83 percent of prorated salaries.

2:33pm: MLB’s proposal promises players $1.5 billion if there’s a postseason, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. It’s $1.27 billion for the regular season, which would begin July 14 and conclude Sept. 27. Teams would be able to carry 29 players on their roster during the first month. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic adds that players receive 70 percent of prorated salaries for a 72-game regular season and 80 percent if the playoffs take place.

10:39am: In its latest offer to Major League Baseball, the MLBPA proposed an 89-game regular season with fully prorated salaries and playoff expansion. The league is expected to make a counter-proposal today, though it doesn’t seem like one that will move the needle enough for the union. MLB plans to offer the players a season of 70-plus games with 80 to 85 percent pro rata salaries and a playoff pool bonus, Karl Ravech of ESPN reports.

It’s expected to be a 72-game offer, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who adds the league will “significantly raise” the players’ share if the COVID-19 pandemic forces the cancellation of the postseason. However, “there’s no confidence” that the players will say yes to the league’s newest attempt, according to Heyman.

Prorated salaries continue to serve as the main roadblock between the parties, considering the union has insisted on receiving 100 percent of that pay for the season. With that in mind, the players obviously want as many games as possible to occur. The league, on the other hand, seems more willing to play a shorter schedule because of financial losses that will come as a result of a lack of fans in the stands. MLB could reportedly lose in the billions if the coronavirus prevents spectators at games. Furthermore, owners such as the Cardinals’ Bill DeWitt Jr. and the Cubs’ Tom Ricketts have publicly raised concerns over profits in recent weeks.

To the bewilderment of many, DeWitt claimed earlier this week that the baseball industry “isn’t very profitable.” Last month, Ricketts said that “about 70 percent of the revenue that comes into our organization comes in on day of game.”

Despite the ongoing disagreements between owners and players, commissioner Rob Manfred insisted this week, “We’re going to play baseball in 2020 — 100 percent.”

Under the agreement the owners and players made in March, Manfred has the ability to choose the length of a season (perhaps one as few as 40-plus games). While neither side wants it to come to that, the 11th hour is approaching, and if the owners and players don’t see eye to eye in talks soon, Manfred could take matters into his own hands in the coming days. Such a move likely would not bode well with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire after 2021, but Manfred may decide to risk it if leads to any kind of a 2020 season.

The Major League Baseball Players Association is preparing to send a counter-proposal to the league which will call for 89 games at prorated salaries and expanded playoffs, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter thread). It’s 25 fewer games than the 114-game proposal the union last sent and 13 games more than MLB’s 76-game proposal on Monday. Of course, the league’s proposal only guaranteed players 50 percent of their prorated salaries — plus another 25 percent should a 16-team postseason be played to completion. As such, it’s hard to envision this deal being accepted — or even considered — by the league.

The new number of games does bring the midpoint between the two proposals to 82 games — the originally proposed number by the league. And ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reports that the union proposal contains expanded 16-team playoffs in both 2020 and 2021, which would surely hold appeal to ownership. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich adds that the players’ share of the playoff pool would be set at $50MM in the event that attendance is either limited or prohibited. Should fans be able to attend — unlikely in 2020 but plausible in 2021 — the players’ share would be dependent on gate revenue, as usual.

The players are also willing to commit to “broadcast enhancements” in the regular season and the playoffs, per Rogers, which would presumably lead to players regularly being mic’ed up to interact with the broadcast team during play. They’d also concede that non-high-risk players opting not to play during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. players who have family members at higher risk) would not receive salary or service time. High-risk players could opt not to play and still receive both.

Tonight’s proposal also contains several new elements. Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller tweets that an All-Star Game and Home Run Derby could be held after the World Series concludes — which could create further revenue for teams. The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond, meanwhile, tweets that the union proposal seeks to establish a joint, $5MM fund with the league to support minor league players and drive social justice initiatives.

Still, the biggest issue hasn’t been the potential for expanded postseason play or even the overall number of games, but rather the disagreement on player salary. The union has steadfastly insisted upon prorated salaries, while ownership has continued to push the notion that additional pay cuts are necessary (while making brash claims about team profitability). Ownership has also staunchly refused to consider playing beyond the end of October, and that’s sure to be another roadblock in this latest proposal; Rogers reports that the proposal calls for the regular season to begin on July 10 and run through Oct. 11. As Diamond observes, that would ensure that MLB playoffs don’t go up against the NBA playoffs, which are set to conclude on Oct. 12.

If the sides cannot come to an agreement on salary terms, it seems increasingly likely that commissioner Rob Manfred will implement a roughly 50-game season with prorated salaries. All of the reported components of tonight’s proposal may create optimism that an actual negotiation could finally commence, but MLB Network’s Jon Heyman gives plenty of reason for caution (Twitter link). One ownership source reacted to Heyman: “We’re nowhere.”

4:24pm: A variety of other notable details of the new proposal have now emerged. Initial reactions from the players’ side to the latest draft agreement seem less than favorable. The league has communicated its view that the sides “need to reach an agreement by Wednesday” in order to prepare for a 76-game campaign.

Players would be guaranteed half of their prorated salaries, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. If the postseason goes off without a hitch, the players would collectively stand to earn 75% of the prorated portion of their original salary guarantees.

The league has also suggested some major tweaks to the 2020-21 offseason, as Jeff Passan of ESPN.com covers on Twitter. The qualifying offer would go on hiatus. Instead, a team would get draft compensation for losing a player who signed a multi-year deal for over $35MM or a one-year deal for over $17.8MM. Signing such a player wouldn’t require any sacrifice of draft picks.

1:17pm: The new proposal sent this morning by Major League Baseball to the Players Association in many ways boils down to a repackaging of previous, similar offers, but it does come with at least one particularly notable change, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link). The league asked for 2020 postseason fields to expand even beyond the previously discussed 14 teams, adding another team per league and bringing the total to 16 playoff clubs.

The idea behind the league’s latest expansion would see a traditional bracket format play out, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed, No. 2 vs. No. 7, etc. until each league has played down to one winner to square off in the World Series. The first round of play, Sherman adds, would be just a three-game set.

That’s a particularly strong deviation from the norm, where the top teams in each league have long been assured at least a five-game series against the weakest playoff entrant. The prospect of a sub-.500 No. 8 seed upsetting a dominant N0. 1 seed would create some excitement, to be sure, but the watered down playoff field and short early-round formats would undoubtedly be a turnoff for a very vocal set of MLB fans as well.

The league’s motivation here is clear. Postseason television contracts represent ownership’s best stream of revenue without fans in attendance at MLB games, and further broadening the playoff field would ensure that more games are played and that fans from more markets tune in to see the early rounds of play. The latest proposal from MLB to the MLBPA calls for owners to share some of those television rights with the players — typically, player postseason shares are derived from gate alone — so it’s only logical that owners are keyed in on making those games as lucrative as possible.

Today’s proposal will surely be rejected by the union, but it’s interesting that the league has now requested even more playoff expansion. On the surface, that’s something the MLBPA could incorporate into a counter-proposal, although it remains eminently possible that we simply see commissioner Rob Manfred implement a heavily truncated season with fully prorated pay. As few as 48 to 54 games have been speculated upon in the past week.

10:55am: Players have been asked to respond to the proposal by Wednesday, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

10:25am: Major League Baseball’s 30 owners have made a new proposal to the union, ESPN’s Karl Ravech reports (via Twitter). The latest attempt by the league to return to play would see a 76-game season that pays players at 75 percent of their prorated contracts and concludes on Sept. 27. The postseason would still finish before the end of October, and the players would receive some portion of “playoff pool money.” Draft pick compensation for signing players would also be temporarily eliminated.

On the one hand, it’s encouraging to see a new effort from ownership. On the other hand, Mike Axisa of CBS Sports points out (via Twitter) that the offer essentially boils down to the same one the league has previously made twice — just dressed up differently. The league’s 82-game, sliding-scale proposal would’ve paid players, on average, about a third of their full-season salary. That’s also true of a roughly 50-game schedule with fully prorated salaries, and the new offer is also in that same ballpark.

To that end, it’s not surprising to see SNY’s Andy Martino tweet that the general player reaction to this is further anger. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich elaborates, tweeting that the union thinks this offer is actually a step back, as players would be more dependent on postseason bonuses to receive their full pay — despite the fact that the league itself has persistently expressed concern about the potential cancellation of playoff games due to an autumn surge in COVID-19 cases.

Per Drellich, the proposal would pay players only half of their prorated salaries for the proposed 76-game regular season, though that number would rise to 75 percent should a full postseason be able to be played out. Meanwhile, Ravech tweets that some sources contend that this offer translates to about $200MM more in total player salaries being paid out in 2020. That seems contingent on the postseason being played in full, though, so the union likely does not see things that way.

It’s also worth noting that while the league can point to the temporary suspension of the qualifying offer/draft compensation system as a win for players, that’s a potentially hollow gesture. Given the widespread revenue losses, even fewer players than usual would be expected to receive a QO at all. Mookie Betts, George Springer and J.T. Realmuto might receive a QO under any circumstance, but borderline cases would almost surely not be given a QO due to ownership fear over accepting and being saddled with a hefty 2021 salary. The Athletics were in essence publicly shamed into paying their minor league players after cutting their weekly stipends to save a total of $1.2MM; it shouldn’t even be assumed that a player like Marcus Semien would be guaranteed a QO.

It seems quite likely that the MLBPA will reject this offer, though if the outcome is a return to some actual back-and-forth negotiation, that could make the new proposal significant even if it was never likely to be accepted in the first place.

In the absence of a true negotiation, the league appears poised to stand by commissioner Manfred’s ability to set a season length at which ownership is comfortable paying fully prorated salaries. If the league views that as the likely outcome, then it may not feel a great sense of urgency anyhow, as a season in the vicinity of 50 games could be played out between August and September (or sooner, depending on start date) with a postseason being completed well prior to the Oct. 31 cutoff point on which owners have been adamant.

5:21pm: Two team executives, Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams and Brewers president of baseball ops David Stearns, expressed optimism Wednesday that the owners and players will hammer something out. Williams told Jim Day of Fox Sports Ohio that “both sides want to play,” interestingly adding that he believes an agreement’s “very close” (via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). Stearns said, “I firmly believe we are going to have baseball this season” (per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

3:43pm: The two sides are seeing eye to eye on expanded playoffs and the universal DH, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. They’re also “close to agreeing on the all-important health protocols,” Heyman writes, but season length could still stand in the way of a deal.

2:45pm: One possible point of leverage for the MLBPA, per Rosenthal and Drellich (subscription required), is that the March agreement offers rather concrete language indicating that MLB cannot simply impose an expanded postseason format without agreement from the union. A May report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggested that expanding the postseason to the oft-floated 14-team setup would increase projected television revenue from $777MM to roughly $1 billion.

Meanwhile, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark tweets that he’s heard some talk of pushing the potential start date back from the July 4 weekend to July 15, as the league and union continue their interminable staredown.

1:00pm: The latest, widely expected step in the exhausting back-and-forth between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association became official today, as the league has formally rejected the union’s proposal for a 114-game season with prorated salaries, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. Moreover, the league has no plans to even extend a counter-proposal. The commissioner’s office has begun speaking with owners about implementing a shortened season, Rosenthal adds, and hopes to have similar talks with the union (rather than a negotiation regarding season length).

Owners contend that ommissioner Rob Manfred can seek to unilaterally impose a shortened season if the union won’t budge from its prorated salary demands, and it appears that’s where they’re leaning, per the New York Post’s Joel Sherman. Either a 48- to 54-game season with fully prorated salaries or an 82-game season at less than prorated salaries are under consideration.

The union can still push back on that, however; Rosenthal and Drellich wrote over the weekend that the MLBPA could point to a clause in the March agreement which states the league will make its “best efforts to play as many games as possible” as a point of contention against a league-implemented short schedule. Union chief Tony Clark could conceivably point to his side’s 114-game proposal as an effort to honor that language while contending that the league simply has not done so. As for any chances of the MLBPA accepting a 48- or 54-game season, those seem minuscule. The union wasn’t pleased with an 82-game schedule; nearly halving that hardly seems like a palatable alternative. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets that one player described those proposed lengths to him as a “joke” and “absurd.”

All of this aligns with an ominous sentiment tweeted by SNY’s Andy Martino this morning, wherein he reported that there “has not been much dialogue” between the league and the players union. Sherman adds to that, noting that he’s “heard greater pessimism today” from both sides than at any point since these negotiation began.

There’s a bit more optimism on the health and safety guidelines, it seems; Martino writes in a full column that the two sides have made progress and believe an agreement can be reached. Might some productive talks in another area finally help facilitate a breakthrough in terms of player salary? Some speculate that to be the case, but it’s hard to be overly optimistic when neither side appears willing to give an inch.

[Related: HoopsRumors — NBA Expected to Approve 22-Team Return-to-Play Format]

The next chapter in this interminable saga unfolds against the backdrop of the NBA’s impending vote on its own return-to-play scenario. A vote to ratify that plan will come tomorrow and would bring basketball back on July 31. MLB seemed to have the opportunity to come back in early July and be the first major sport to give starved fans across North America some of the entertainment they’ve desperately craved. On the surface, doing so seemed like an opportunity to perhaps broaden the sport’s fanbase by attracting new fans (or luring old ones back into the fold) as the only game in town, so to speak. Instead, there’s increased doubt as to whether a season will be played at all.

At this point, the “good faith” negotiations that were oft-referenced in the March agreement are a distant memory. Both sides have issued proposals they knew to be nonstarters — twice, in the league’s case, although the revenue-sharing plan was a strategic leak rather than a formal proposal. Now, ownership appears intent on driving home the point that play will only resume under its terms.