Tony Clark’s statement in response to Manfred did not address whether or not the union will file a grievanceGETTY IMAGES
MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark “responded with a forceful denunciation" of what MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said on ESPN last night about the negotiations around the game's potential return this season, according to Michael Silverman of the BOSTON GLOBE. Manfred said he is "not confident" that the season will take place, and Clark in a statement wrote, “This latest threat is just one more indication that Major League Baseball has been negotiating in bad faith since the beginning.” Silverman noted Clark’s statement “did not address whether or not the union will file a grievance, a strategy it has no need to divulge before the commissioner’s office decides what course to take.” Fear that the union “has a strong case and could win a grievance that would be costly for the owners” could have played a role in Monday's events (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/15). In L.A., Bill Shaikin earlier reported MLB told the union that it “would not honor the players’ demand to announce a schedule unless the union waives legal claims against the league.” The league specifically asked the players to “sign away the right to a potential grievance hearing in which the union believes it could pursue perhaps a billion dollars in damages and instead return to a bargaining process the union has abandoned as 'futile'" (L.A. TIMES, 6/15).
OWNERS DIGGING IN: In DC, Dave Sheinin reports a conference call yesterday with MLB’s 30 owners “failed to spark any movement toward starting the season,” and the union’s “aggressive stance appears to have hardened the owners’ resolve” (WASHINGTON POST, 6/16). USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale cited sources as saying that owners on the call “decided they’ll take the union’s word that negotiations are over.” They now will “focus on reaching an agreement on the safety and health protocols with the union, along with creating a truncated schedule.” However, the sources said that no schedule will be created “unless the union engages in topics that include the safety protocols needed before starting a season.” The union feels like this is a "stall tactic, leading to the likelihood that if there is [a] season, it will be as few as 50 games, and no more than 60” (USA TODAY, 6/15). THE ATHLETIC’s Rosenthal & Drellich cited sources as saying that the commissioner’s office is “loathe to impose a season on players against their will,” when the union likely would “counter such a move by filing a claim for financial damages.” One source said that the league’s goal remains to “negotiate a resolution that is satisfactory to both parties.” However, that message “became muddied” after Manfred’s comments to ESPN (THEATHLETIC.com, 6/15).
ISSUES WITHIN OWNERS' RANKS: In St. Louis, Derrick Goold reports there are “unresolved issues within the ownership ranks that would lead to a season being canceled.” There is a “growing concern about spikes in the coronavirus and how baseball would handle it if one of its cities experiences another shutdown.” The game “does not want to start and stop a season,” and the owners “want to squeeze a season in before the end of October because medical experts are telling them to get in and get out of a season as quickly as possible.” Additionally, there is small group of owners open to “skipping a season because the cost of playing would be less beneficial to them than the revenue from those games” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/16).
OPENING BATTLE IN A LONG WAR: MLIVE.com’s Evan Woodbery wrote the players and owners “have wrangled themselves into an outcome that can only be described as lose-lose.” The result likely will be a 50-game season “that no one wants and ominous clouds looming over the game’s future” (MLIVE.com, 6/15). In Atlanta, Mark Bradley noted the players and owners “aren’t just bickering over games and pay for this year,” as they are setting the stage for when the CBA ends in '21. Insiders have “long believed there’d be a strike/lockout at some point before opening day in 2022,” but the coronavirus “brought the rancor sooner than anyone could have imagined” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 6/15). In Philadelphia, David Murphy noted MLB and the MLBPA are less than 18 months away from the expiration of the CBA, and if the “past few months are any indication, they are less than 18 months away from squandering 27 years of labor peace with a battle that does permanent damage to baseball’s standing in America’s hierarchy of professional sports” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/15).) ESPN's Buster Olney: "It feels incredibly shortsighted because all the while they don't have an agreement, the fans are getting angry. ... You wonder if this drags on through this year, into 2021, into 2022 perhaps, how fans are going to feel about baseball” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 6/15).
