KC Royals: MLB and MLBPA negotiations to start season leaving foul taste

Like the rest of the 30 MLB clubs, the KC Royals are in negotiations with the MLBPA to start a truncated 2020 season consisting of 82 games. The developments are leaving a foul, bitter taste in my mouth.

First off, let’s recognize how hard this must be on new Kansas City Royals majority owner John Sherman, who bought the team after the 2019 season concluded. It’s great that he did, because previous owner David Glass passed away a short while after the transaction.

Imagine being an owner-less franchise right now during the coronavirus pandemic with no games being played and in the middle of contentious talks with the MLBPA to get things going.

That wouldn’t be great.

As the talks progress between MLB and MLBPA, each side is shooting itself in the foot, the owners more so than the players.

A couple of weeks ago, Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2018, said he wouldn’t play in 2020 for a reduced salary because the risk of contracting the COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, wasn’t worth it.

At a time when tens of millions of Americans are out of work, his quote wasn’t taken kindly.

Soon after he made his comments, Snell was backed up by superstars Bryce Harper and Nolan Arenado.

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The comments came on the heels of the owners agreeing to split all 2020 revenue right down the middle with the players, should a season be held. But the MLBPA had yet to agree to that proposal when the owners, clearly in the driver’s seat in the court of public opinion, started making some bizarre decisions.

The Oakland Athletics kicked things off by failing to make a rent payment for Oakland Coliseum. The payment was a mere $1.2 million, “mere” because that’s peanuts in comparison to what a majority of players make these days and considering the fact that the A’s owner, John Fisher, whose parents founded Gap, is worth over $2 billion. But the A’s stood on the stance that without any game revenue, the team couldn’t make the payment.

Please.

Not only is that excuse weak, but it also hurts the City of Oakland, a municipality that, like most municipalities across the world, is facing massive budget cuts in the face of battling the pandemic.

Then the Los Angeles Angels decided they were going to furlough most of the team’s scouting department–guys usually making less than, or right at, $100,000–before next month’s draft. Sure, the team will have some guys still around for the five-round draft, but then that group is also getting furloughed.

Arte Moreno owns the Angels. His net worth, according to Forbes, tops $3 billion.

Not to be outdone, Fisher and the Athletics came charging back yesterday and what bad timing to do so. Earlier yesterday, news broke that the owners, collectively, had made a joke of a financial offer to the MLBPA in efforts to get back to playing. Instead of paying the players the correct prorated amount of their salaries based on the proposed 82-game season, the owners suggested even steeper cuts to salary.

From ESPN’s Jeff Passan:

Why in the world would the players agree to that?

Back to Fisher and the Athletics – After the owners’ proposal came out, the Athletics not only announced they were going to be furloughing employees from June through October 31, it also broke that the A’s are going to stop payments to its minor league players beginning June 1.

Right now those players are getting a $400 weekly stipend. Rough estimate, the A’s will save between $1 million and $2 million by such a move.

Again, John Fisher is worth over $2 billion.

What a joke. If only someone could do something about it.

I love baseball as much as the next fan, and I was very curious to see what the Kansas City Royals would accomplish under the first year with new manager Mike Matheny and Sherman. The team has some tantalizing pieces, plus the organization could be in the market to sell off some players in an effort to gain future stars. That’s always an interesting storyline, among others, to watch.

But right now, more than ever, it seems as though a baseball season in 2020 may not happen. I absolutely loathe financial disputes between billionaires and millionaires, especially when it’s going to cost not just me, but a whole lot of other people a chance at some grand entertainment when that’s badly needed.

Both sides are to blame, yes, but it seems like the owners, who keep getting richer during the pandemic, should take the brunt of this blame.

Seems like nothing’s been learned from 1994, and that’s a shame.