Play Ball! After months of idiocy, schedule is in place & camps open July 1st

[Say Hey Kid]

• Arizona gov.: Pro sports in state can resume Sat.
• Sources: Player pay not discussed in MLB talks
• Mariners announce reduction in pay, no layoffs
• Plant that makes Louisville Slugger bats reopens
• Sources: MLB owners OK proposal for July start
• Sources: Cancellation of WBC in 2021 imminent
• Japanese baseball league hoping for June start

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Let's go! Let's at least have a 80-game season.

Man, what a change in strategy a half-season would make.

 

[FourRings]

I don't think baseball can recover from a lost season due to a financial squabble in this climate.

 

[SSF]

pretty sure baseball will be just fine in any climate.

 

[John Price]

Rays' Snell: Playing for reduced pay 'not worth it'

 

[FourRings]

pretty sure baseball will be just fine in any climate.

Nope. It's a dying sport and an argument between billionaires and millionaires are going to turn a lot of people off. 1994 hit baseball hard and people still don't watch due to that strike. This would be 10x worse when you consider what the country is going through.

I'm not picking sides here, I just think they will be in a ton of trouble.

 

[DueDiligence]

Rays' Snell: Playing for reduced pay 'not worth it'

The guy comes off as a greedy entitled b**turd. Complains about making only $5 million for 82 games.

 

[Canes]

Rays' Snell: Playing for reduced pay 'not worth it'

As opposed to not playing and not getting paid anything?

I realize most owners are going to be bastards about this but I don't think a labor dispute during a pandemic is going to help baseball at all. There's going to be less money for everyone if they drag things out too long.

 

[PG Canuck]

Nope. It's a dying sport and an argument between billionaires and millionaires are going to turn a lot of people off. 1994 hit baseball hard and people still don't watch due to that strike. This would be 10x worse when you consider what the country is going through.

I'm not picking sides here, I just think they will be in a ton of trouble.

It would be better if both sides weren't using the media to relay their message all the time, but here we are...

 

[PG Canuck]

As opposed to not playing and not getting paid anything?

I realize most owners are going to be bastards about this but I don't think a labor dispute during a pandemic is going to help baseball at all. There's going to be less money for everyone if they drag things out too long.

I don't know who to side with at all. I tend to always lean towards the players side because owners are greedy as f*** and I'd rather the players get money over them every single time. The players are taking all the risk here and while how much money they make is more than we can ever dream of, even when cut in half, is irrelevant for me when looking at this situation.

Sure, they wouldn't get paid at all if not playing but do they want to jump through all these hurdles every single day to maybe not test positive of covid? Do they want to be away from their family (potentially) for months on end? Do players with known existing health issues want to play under these circumstances? I don't know. There are so many factors where I'm kind of siding with the players. And I'm not even really thinking about the Snell's or Bauer's of the baseball world who will make a decent amount even if salaries are cut in half. I'm thinking of all the other players who will definitely not be making millions to jump through these hurdles and taking all these risks.

I don't know what the solution is either.

 

[PG Canuck]

 

[PG Canuck]

The guy comes off as a greedy entitled b**turd. Complains about making only $5 million for 82 games.

Also, the players already agreed to a paycut. Now the owners are backtracking. Getting mad at the players when the owners are trying to screw them on something already agreed to is an odd take. Owners offered to share revenue, guess what, there isn't going to be much revenue with no fans.

Funny how owners are so willing to offer a revenue share with players when times are awful, but when business is booming they don't want to share.

But blame the players.

 

[John Price]

The owners are wrong in this situation. Docking pay and having the players play less even in a pandemic is ridiculous.

Snell is RIGHT to be offended. No player would willingly take a pay cut.

 

[John Price]

Side with the players. Why would anyone side with a greedy billionaire.

 

[FourRings]

Also, the players already agreed to a paycut. Now the owners are backtracking. Getting mad at the players when the owners are trying to screw them on something already agreed to is an odd take. Owners offered to share revenue, guess what, there isn't going to be much revenue with no fans.

Funny how owners are so willing to offer a revenue share with players when times are awful, but when business is booming they don't want to share.

But blame the players.

I agree with you for the most part. The owners should be responsible for the players’ contract amount.

But Bauer claiming that they took a pay cut is disingenuous. They agreed to a prorated salary. They’re working half a season and they’ll get paid for working half a season.

Owners should owe the prorated amount. I understand that they don’t have the ticket revenue. That’s fine. Agree to pay it back over the course of the next few years. That sounds more than fair for both sides.

Snell came off horribly here though. He stated he’s not playing for less then framed it as if he’s worried about his health and then continued to name a price for which it’d be “worth it”. If you don’t feel safe, totally behind you, don’t play. Don’t make it about money during a crisis like this.

 

[PG Canuck]

I agree with you for the most part. The owners should be responsible for the players’ contract amount.

But Bauer claiming that they took a pay cut is disingenuous. They agreed to a prorated salary. They’re working half a season and they’ll get paid for working half a season.

Owners should owe the prorated amount. I understand that they don’t have the ticket revenue. That’s fine. Agree to pay it back over the course of the next few years. That sounds more than fair for both sides.

Snell came off horribly here though. He stated he’s not playing for less then framed it as if he’s worried about his health and then continued to name a price for which it’d be “worth it”. If you don’t feel safe, totally behind you, don’t play. Don’t make it about money during a crisis like this.

I'm unable to listen to that tweet on Snell ATM, but I've been reading that, yes, the players agreed to a prorated salary for half a season of work, but now the owners want to cut that too. It's just pissed off players for no reason now. And the owners are trying to sound like good guys by sharing revenue, but that's going to be a minuscule amount.

We should've known the most bickering would've been about money instead of safety.

 

[BLONG7]

It would be better if both sides weren't using the media to relay their message all the time, but here we are...

It drives me nuts, when these guys use the media to get their side out.....it's down right stupid of them to do this......billionaires and millionaires....absolutely no one is gonna feel anything for either side.
Negotiate in private, in good faith and get it done. If not, no season...maybe these clowns haven't noticed, pro sports is not essential. They just don't matter at a time like this....sad, but very true.

 

[BLONG7]

Rays' Snell: Playing for reduced pay 'not worth it'

Some of these guys should not talk...it makes them look bad.

 

[NJDevs26]

The owners are wrong in this situation. Docking pay and having the players play less even in a pandemic is ridiculous.

Snell is RIGHT to be offended. No player would willingly take a pay cut.

So owners should assume ALL the financial hit on this season? What makes MLB players so special that they should get paid every penny in a business with a clearly slashed revenue stream when almost every person in America is either feeling a pinch financially or at-risk if not both? If the players want to argue they should get more than 50% of their pro-rated contracts because they're the ones at risk, fine - that's fair enough. What point you want to make it (70-75%?) is debatable.

But when they start screaming they won't give up a dime when everyone else in America doesn't have a choice well again, what makes them so freaking special that they shouldn't feel a pinch from a worldwide pandemic? Even if owners only paid players 50% of prorated contracts they'll still be taking a major hit with zero fans/concessions and to boot, someone's gonna be paying for the daily testing and protocol and it won't be the players. Why shouldn't the players have to absorb at least a portion of a financial hit?

If the players want to say they won't come back because it isn't safe and stand on principle I'd have respect for that, but not for arbitrarily putting a price on it in an attempted shakedown.

 

[Miguel Cairo]

If baseball owners can’t withstand a one year reduction in gate revenue they have zero value to the sport. Normal business owners make money because they provide infrastructure and assume financial risks. Baseball owners inexplicably get tax payers to pay for their infrastructure and now when they won’t set a new industry revenue record for the first year in a generation someone else needs to bail them out. They’re leeches.

 

[DueDiligence]

Also, the players already agreed to a paycut. Now the owners are backtracking. Getting mad at the players when the owners are trying to screw them on something already agreed to is an odd take. Owners offered to share revenue, guess what, there isn't going to be much revenue with no fans.

Funny how owners are so willing to offer a revenue share with players when times are awful, but when business is booming they don't want to share.

But blame the players.

I'm not blaming the "players"; I am calling out one guy.

 

[SupremeNachos]

I don't know who to side with at all. I tend to always lean towards the players side because owners are greedy as f*** and I'd rather the players get money over them every single time. The players are taking all the risk here and while how much money they make is more than we can ever dream of, even when cut in half, is irrelevant for me when looking at this situation.

Sure, they wouldn't get paid at all if not playing but do they want to jump through all these hurdles every single day to maybe not test positive of covid? Do they want to be away from their family (potentially) for months on end? Do players with known existing health issues want to play under these circumstances? I don't know. There are so many factors where I'm kind of siding with the players. And I'm not even really thinking about the Snell's or Bauer's of the baseball world who will make a decent amount even if salaries are cut in half. I'm thinking of all the other players who will definitely not be making millions to jump through these hurdles and taking all these risks.

I don't know what the solution is either.

Once again a athlete in this current generation spoke before thinking. These guys really really need to understand that the first statement they make is almost always going to be the one people remember. Snell comes off as a entitled greedy person who think's his job is as important as the healthcare workers on the frontlines. All he did is put the players further away from the starting line.

 

[PanthersPens62]

Both parties come off as extremely tone deaf. I get why Snell is upset, but given the circumstances for so many Americans right now he'd have been better served not expressing his views for the whole world to hear.

 

[Canes]

The players are just terrible at PR. Yes, they're technically right to hold out for what they bargained for but to say some of the shit they're saying to their fans who have had to deal with pay cuts, raise freezes, or being fired themselves because the businesses they work for have decreased/zero revenue. Just like what many MLB teams are facing considering they won't be getting any kind of ticket revenue for this season which is a good chunk of change. Most of these billionaire owners could probably take a haircut this season which is what the players should be arguing, not some of the tone deaf arguments they are using now.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Will always be on the players side when it comes to money but snell comes off like a asshole. He's better served staying quiet.