Baseball will not be playing 114 games this year, but we knew that already right?
MLB reportedly rejects MLBPA’s 114 game proposal, won’t send counteroffer | Bleacher Report
I’m not sure anyone who has kept up with the ongoing negotiations between MLB and the MLB Players Association truly believes we’d get a 114-game season this year, but after the latest proposal from the Player’s Association was officially rejected by MLB, we know that a shorter season is what we’ll be getting (if anything). MLB has said a 50-game season starting in July is their last resort, but at this point, it seems like that might be our best bet.
The players and league have actually agreed on issues such as a universal DH, playing games without fans, and other health precautions needed to go forward with a season. The disconnect still remains regarding player salaries (not a great look given the circumstances). The players, having already accepted salary cuts, are trying to play the maximum amount of games, while owners prefer a shorter regular season to ensure a full postseason (translation: more revenue for the league). It’s tough to say who are the good guys in this scenario, but it feels wrong that the sides would forgo whatever season we may still be able to salvage over financial concerns.
Jayson Stark seemed to put it best (with an added touch about the potential existential crisis facing baseball):
"It just feels so tone deaf to be fighting about money this publicly at a time like this in American life."
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) June 3, 2020
My appearances on The Lead are normally more fun than this. But as I said (and wrote last week)..
Baseball doesn't just need to save a season. It needs to save its sport. https://t.co/orEqYkchSd
In Sunday’s Rockpile, we saw some early rumblings that Nolan Arenado would be more likely to stay with the Rockies as a result of the financial strain on baseball from Coronavirus. Well it came up again, and the more I see it going around online, the more confident I am that he’ll be staying.
The bar for good news is quite low these days and the further we dive into this story, the harder it is to determine whether or not it is truly “good news.” However, the overall prediction from Buster Olney here is positive - Nolan Arenado is more likely to stay with the Rockies than we previously thought. This is something Rockies fans have been hoping to hear ever since rumors surfaced this past winter that there was fighting between our star third baseman and ownership. During Spring Training, I, like many Rockies fans, was already preparing for what seemed like the inevitable: an in-season trade that would send Nolan Arenado elsewhere.
As Buster Olney elaborated on in a series of tweets, the Coronavirus pandemic and prospect of a shortened or cancelled season actually increases the chances that Nolan continues putting on the purple pinstripes. The financial outlook for the league and teams is understandably bleak regardless of what sort of season we end up with. As a result, it looks like clubs will be looking to offset costs, most notably through a decreased amount of spending in free agency. In this case, teams might steer clear of Nolan’s gargantuan contract, effectively “pushing” him to keep mashing in Denver. So uh...good news?
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