Clark Issues New Statement On 2020 Season Negotiations
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.
MLBPA Makes 70-Game Counter-Proposal To MLB
2:10pm: The MLBPA has issued the following statement:
We delivered to Major League Baseball today a counterproposal based on a 70-game season, which among a number of issues, includes expanded playoffs for both 2020 and 2021. We believe this offer represents the basis for an agreement on resumption of play.
Notably, Clark looks to be throwing Manfred’s exact wording — “the basis for an agreement” — back at the league. The subtext, of course, is that the 60-game framework was viewed no more an agreement by the union than this 70-game proposal will be viewed as such by ownership.
1:35pm: The union’s proposal would see the regular season run July 19 through Sept. 30, Passan tweets. It also includes $50MM in playoff revenue, a share of postseason TV revenue in 2021, the aforementioned forgiveness of the salary advance for the league’s lower-compensated players, a universal DH (presumably in 2020-21) and both sides waiving the right to a grievance.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets that the union also proposed a neutral site framework for the postseason, if needed. They also agreed to advertising patches on uniforms over the next two seasons.
1:20pm: SNY’s Andy Martino reports that there’s frustration among some owners that they’re receiving a counter to what they didn’t believe was a proposal (Twitter thread). Ownership believed a deal/framework was in place at 60 games earlier in the week. Martino adds that Manfred had to “really twist” the arm of some owners to get to that 60-game mark, so it seems a straightforward “meet in the middle,” 65-game concept isn’t popular among ownership.
The MLBPA, however, saw the 60-game prorated framework as a proposal — not an agreement. Of note, even commissioner Rob Manfred himself said this week that his meeting with union chief Tony Clark produced a “a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement.” That quote in and of itself falls short of indicating that an agreement was firmly reached.
1:00pm: The Major League Baseball Players Association has finalized yet another counter-proposal for the league, according to Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com (Twitter thread). The union’s latest proposal is for 70 games and includes a “split of playoff revenues,” per Passan and Rogers. The league will likely make another counter before any terms are agreed upon.
Earlier this week, ownership proposed a 60-game season with prorated salaries, while the MLBPA reportedly continued to hold out hope for a longer season. The MLBPA’s last formal proposal to the league called for 89 games, so this latest proposal marks a notable drop from that point. Other factors have begun to surface in the back-and-forth, such as a universal DH in 2020 and 2021, expanded 16-team playoffs in each of the next two seasons, a joint fund for social justice initiatives and the partial forgiveness of the $170MM advance that was already paid out to players as a compromise to receive service time in the event of a canceled season.
It seems as though talks are reaching their apex, although that sense has existed at various points in the past. We’re already well past the June 10 target date for a relaunched training camp, and the once-hoped-for July 4 start date is clearly out of the question at this juncture. But the two sides still remain hopeful that a mid-July start date can be realized, with expanded postseason play running through late October. A middle ground in the mid-60s seems like it should be plausible at this point, although it’s best to temper any expectations for straightforward compromise between these two parties at this point.
As ESPN’s Buster Olney observes on Twitter, though, the difference between a 60-game and 70-game season checks in at roughly $245-250MM in total revenue — or $8.33MM per team. When we’ve reached the point where the gap between the two sides is comparable to what multiple individual free agents were promised this winter (think Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon or, on a larger scale, Gerrit Cole) — it seems things should be able to come together quickly. Still, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that there’s little indication a resolution will be reached “quickly.” Still, it’s nearly unfathomable to think that the two sides could be as few as 10 games apart in their proposals and not eventually strike some kind of agreement.
Gorkys Hernandez, Christian Friedrich Among White Sox Releases
Former big leaguers Gorkys Hernandez and Christian Friedrich were among the White Sox’ wave of minor league releases, per Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. Both had signed minor league deals with the South Siders over the winter.
Hernandez, 32, has logged time in the big leagues in each of the past five season — mostly with the Giants. He’s appeared at all three outfield spots and generally been a solid defender, but he’s mustered only a .237/.296/.361 batting line in 918 plate appearances during that time. Hernandez’s deal didn’t include a Major League Spring Training invite, so he’d been signed purely for depth purposes.
Friedrich, also 32, joined the Sox in hopes of returning to the Majors for the first time since 2016. The former first-round pick (No. 25 to the Rockies in ’08) was once considered to be among baseball’s very best pitching prospects but never found any success with the Rockies (5.81 ERA in 167 1/3 innings) before being released in 2016.
Friedrich latched on with the Padres and tossed 123 1/3 frames with a career-best 4.80 ERA that season. Lat injuries wiped out his 2017-18 seasons, though, and he split the 2019 season between the independent Atlantic League’s New Britain Bees and the Korea Baseball Organization’s NC Dinos. Friedrich actually threw quite well for both teams (3.00 ERA in 11 starts with the Bees and 2.75 in 12 starts with the Dinos).
Tigers Sign Second-Rounder Dillon Dingler
11:34am: Dingler signed for the full slot value of $1,925,300, tweets Jim Callis of MLB.com.
11:24am: The Tigers announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to terms with second-round pick Dillon Dingler. As one would expect, bonus terms weren’t formally disclosed by the team, but Dingler’s slot value checks in at $1.95MM.
A catcher out of Ohio State, Dingler was regarded as a top 30 draft talent by each of ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (No. 17), The Athletic’s Keith Law (No. 20), FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (No. 29) and the teams over at Baseball America (No. 27) and MLB.com (No. 24). The 21-year-old, however, was still on the board for the Tigers with the top pick in the second round (No. 38 overall), and the Detroit org was surely thrilled to add another highly touted college position player to its already impressive stable of pitching prospects.
Dingler hit .340/.404/.760 with five homers, four doubles and a triple in just 13 games with the Buckeyes in 2020 before the season ground to a halt. After a pedestrian freshman season, he put himself on the map with a .291/.392/.424 slash in 2019 — a sign that he was perhaps tapping into the above-average raw power for which scouting reports credit him. Law calls Dingler the best defender among this year’s crop of catchers, and he even draws roughly average marks for his speed (45 at FanGraphs, 55 at MLB.com); Dingler swiped nine bags in a dozen tries in 62 games between 2019-20.
With Dingler on board, the Tigers have agreed to terms with three of their six picks. Third-rounder Trei Cruz and fifth-rounder Colt Keith agreed to deals that were a combined $116K over slot. Detroit still has to work out deals with No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, Competitive Balance (Round B) pick Daniel Cabrera and fourth-round pick Gage Workman. Of that bunch, Workman has already acknowledged that he intends to sign, although there’s no deal in place just yet (at least not one that has been announced or reported).
Amateur Draft Signings: 6/18/20
We’ll track today’s slate of signings from the 2020 amateur draft here…
- The Braves agreed to a full-slot deal with fourth-round pick Spencer Strider, tweets MLB.com’s Jim Callis. The Clemson righty, who returned from Tommy John surgery early this spring, will receive $451,800. The 6’0″, 195-pound Strider posted a 19-to-3 K/BB ratio in 12 innings before the NCAA season was halted, and Callis notes that he hit 95 mph multiple times in his first few showings. Strider didn’t rank inside MLB.com’s Top 200 or Baseball America’s Top 500, although that’s perhaps not much of a surprise given that he missed the entire 2019 season recovering from surgery. The Atlanta organization clearly liked what it saw in his brief return this spring — brief as it may have been.
- Astros third-rounder Tyler Brown announced on Twitter that he’s officially signed with the team. Callis reports that Brown received his full $577K slot value. Listed at 6’4″ and 242 pounds, the now-former Vanderbilt right-hander notched a 14-to-4 K/BB ratio with three earned runs allowed in 10 2/3 innings this spring, which seemed to be setting the stage for a strong followup to a nice sophomore season. In 2019, Brown tossed 41 2/3 frames out of the Commodores’ bullpen and logged 14 saves with a 2.59 ERA and an impressive 58-to-8 K/BB ratio. Brown ranked 99th on Baseball America’s Top 500 list and 133rd over at MLB.com. Both outlet’s scouting reports suggest that his size and four-pitch mix could make at least give him a chance to start, despite working as a reliever for most of his collegiate career. If Houston opts to leave him in the ‘pen, though, his path the the Majors would likely be quicker.
League & Union Reportedly Making Progress On Deal For 2020 Season
10:09pm: The players would have $33MM of the $170MM advance they received from their March agreement with the owners forgiven, per Heyman. Teams, meanwhile, would be able to sell advertisements on uniforms in 2020 and ’21 in order to increase their revenues, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
6:16pm: The proposal adds the designated hitter position to the NL in 2020 and ’21, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.
2:14pm: The postseason would expand to sixteen teams, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter).
With multiple reporters floating the concept, it sounds as if the expectation is for the union to press for some modest increase in the number of games beyond the sixty proposed. The MLBPA has made clear it hasn’t yet agreed to anything.
2:07pm: The proposal is indeed for sixty games with full pro rata pay, Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. The season would begin on July 19th.
2:00pm: The proposal is for at least sixty games, Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette tweets.
1:34pm: MLB has sent the union a new formal proposal, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic (via Twitter). At the moment, the sides haven’t yet reached an agreement in principle, let alone a full and binding accord. But it certainly seems as if there’s momentum towards a common goal of getting back to work.
Per Heyman (Twitter link), several major pillars of the potential agreement are moving in place, at least conceptually: The players will receive pro-rated pay, the league will get an expanded postseason, and players will waive any potential grievance to seek additional compensation.
1:25pm: In a major potential breakthrough, in-person league and union negotiations appear to be bearing fruit. The sides are “closing in” on a deal to resume play in 2020, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link).
If you’ve followed even some of the long-running saga over the pandemic-interrupted season, this comes as quite welcome news. While the vitriol had ramped up in recent weeks, it seems the sides pulled back from the brink of a potentially disastrous season cancellation.
You’ll be forgiven for wondering whether all the posturing truly should’ve been necessary, particularly given that it occurred against a backdrop of much more important events. But there’s still time for MLB and the MLB Players Association to put much of the pain in the background if they can come together and stage a compelling 2020 campaign.
Just over three months have passed since Spring Training went on ice as COVID-19 swept into the United States. The sides reached agreement not long thereafter on a preliminary agreement to resume play. But they were soon arguing over whether that deal’s pay provisions — pro rata, game for game salary for players — applied even if teams were not able to collect a gate.
Undrafted Free Agent Signings: 6/17/20
Here are the latest undrafted free agent signings from around the majors. Reminder: $20K is the maximum an unpicked player can receive this year…
- Lamar infielder J.C. Correa will sign with the Astros, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. He’ll join his brother, star shortstop Carlos Correa, in the Houston organization. The Astros drafted J.C. Correa in 2018 (33rd round) and ’19 (38th), but he decided not to sign on those occasions because he wanted to earn his degree first. He slashed .315/.368/.469 and swatted 10 home runs over 304 plate appearances at Lamar.
- Indiana University outfielder Elijah Dunham announced Wednesday that he has signed with the Yankees. Dunham, who didn’t sign after the Pirates selected him in the 40th round in 2019, cracked the top 250 pre-draft rankings of ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel this year and checked in at No. 186 on Baseball America’s list. BA writes that Dunham carries a “balanced offensive profile in a corner outfield spot.”
- The Braves have added a local product in University of Georgia shortstop Cam Shepherd, Baseball America tweets. He was BA’s top available undrafted senior, and the outlet ranked him as the 298th-best prospect entering the draft. His stock has fallen in BA’s eyes from a year ago, though, as it had Shepherd as the 97th-rated pre-draft prospect then. The Rays took Shepherd in the 20th round in 2019, but he opted against signing.
- The Indians have signed Fresno State left-hander Jaime Arias for $20K, Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com tweets. Primarily a reliever in college, Arias pitched to a 3.56 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 139 innings.
- The Red Sox have added Grand Canyon University first baseman Cuba Bess, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports. Bess slashed .313/.425/.517 with 12 home runs in 348 PA as a collegian.
- The Marlins have picked up Air Force outfielder Ashton Easley, per Craig Mish of Sports Grid. Easley was a .301/.364/.512 hitter with 17 homers across 619 PA in school. The club has also signed VCU infielder Brett Norwood, who batted .303/.425/.440 with seven HRs in 299 college PA.
- The Twins have inked UNC-Wilmington southpaw Zarion Sharpe, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune writes. Sharpe stayed in school despite going to the Cardinals in the 19th round a year ago, and he tossed 20 2/3 frames of 2.18 ERA ball with 8.7 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 this season.
Latest On Minor League Pay
There has been plenty of talk about “billionaires versus millionaires” as Major League Baseball owners and players continue to clash over a potential 2020 season, but minor leaguers aren’t so lucky. They make a pittance in comparison, which is why it’s so important that many teams have committed to paying those players their $400-per-week stipends through the end of a minor league season that likely won’t occur this year.
The Nationals became the latest franchise to make the $400 promise Tuesday when they informed their minor leaguers they’ll earn their weekly pay through September, per Emily Waldon and Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. That continues a welcome change of heart from the reigning World Series champions, who two-plus weeks ago reversed an unpopular decision to cut minor leaguers’ weekly pay to $300 after great internal and external pressure.
In another noteworthy development, the MLBPA announced Wednesday that the MLB Players Trust has pledged $1MM to help minor leaguers over the next few months.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark stated, in part: “Within the baseball community, minor leaguers have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and many of them will lose a season they will never get back. We will continue to seek ways to support them.”
MLB, MLBPA Still Apart On Length Of Potential Season
Major League Baseball and the MLBPA seem to be progressing toward an agreement on a 2020 season, but there are still obstacles to overcome. The length of a potential campaign continues to serve as a stumbling block, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who writes that “the mood soured by nightfall with the union seeking a longer schedule.”
There was more hope for peace earlier Wednesday when commissioner Rob Manfred, after a meeting with union chief Tony Clark, said the two sides had “a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement.” However, the union remains dissatisfied with the league’s proposed 60-game regular season that would take place over 70 days if it were to end Sept. 27, even though the players would earn 100 percent of their prorated salaries and, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, a $25MM playoff pool.
The union offered an 89-game season in its most recent proposal, so there does still seem to be a lot of ground to make up. Indeed, the players at least want something closer to 70 games, Nightengale writes, though MLB doesn’t want to risk the playoffs extending beyond October because of COVID-19 fears. Notably, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against late-October baseball on Tuesday. So, along with season length, health and safety measures are surely at the front of the minds of owners and players. Expectations are that they’ll pick up discussions again Thursday in hopes of reaching an agreement by the weekend, Nightengale reports.
Amateur Draft Signings: 6/17/20
We’ll keep track of today’s amateur draft signing news here…
- The Tigers have signed fifth-rounder Colt Keith for $500K, Jim Callis of MLB.com tweets. It’s an above-slot deal for Keith, the 132nd overall selection whose pick came with a recommended value of $426,600. The Mississippi high school third baseman was an Arizona State recruit, notes Callis, who adds that Keith has the ability to hit for average and power at the plate. His arm’s also so strong that he was a legit pitching prospect, per Callis. Notably, Keith was among the top 100 prospects in the pre-draft rankings of Baseball America (No. 57), MLB.com (87) and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel (99).
- The Rockies have reached an agreement with fourth-rounder Case Williams, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports. Williams’ pick (110) carried a recommended value of $527,800, but he’ll earn $450K, according to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. A high school right-hander from Colorado, Williams ranked as FanGraphs’ 231st-best prospect entering the draft.
- Let’s update a couple previously covered signings that didn’t come with financial information when they were reported: Astros fourth-rounder and 131st overall pick Zach Daniels agreed to a deal worth $400K, down from the slot value of $430,800, according to Callis. Meanwhile, Rays fifth-rounder Jeff Hakanson, the 155th choice, received the full slot value of $340K, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays.