Major League Baseball’s proposed plan for the 2020 season includes an 82-game schedule, a universal DH, expanded playoffs, and a 50-50 revenue split between players and owners, among other protocols and parameters.
There’s just one problem: the players haven’t agreed to that.
“We haven’t even had time yet to really go through the full agreement and even see what all is in it and all that,” Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer said on Tiki & Tierney. “We just know what’s been made public, which is not how you’re supposed to negotiate – the intention seemingly being to pit the owners on the right side of things and the players as the greedy ones or the ones who are asking for more or whatever.”
Bauer, never one to shy away from stating his opinion, has a big problem with that.
“I don’t agree with these negotiations taking place through the public sphere,” he said. “Once those details of it were leaked to the media to be made public, then okay, those are the rules that we’ve apparently agreed to play by because this is public information. That’s why I’ve been so vocal about stepping out and saying on behalf of the players how some of us feel in the public sphere. But I don’t think any of it should have been made public in the first place.”
Still, Bauer is “100 percent” certain baseball will happen in 2020.
“I’m very confident that there will be baseball this season,” he said. “The players and the teams have a long history of being able to work together and find common ground. We’ve had labor peace for 26, 25 years. I’m very optimistic that there will be baseball this year. What form it takes and how long until it comes back and all that is what’s being negotiated right now. That’s going to take some time to get through the agreement and make some counter proposals and find some common ground, something that works for everybody.
“But I think the players have been more than willing to compromise,” Bauer continued. “We have already agreed to take pay cuts and pro-rated amounts in a good-faith position to try to get baseball back on the field. We realize that it’s good for everybody when baseball is on the field. We all want to be on the field and play and provide entertainment for the fans and be able to feed our families and provide for our families. At the same time, though, it needs to be done in good faith.”