Rather than countering the Players Association’s latest proposal of 70 games -- and moving toward a potential compromise at the midpoint of 65 games at a total cost to the 30 owners of roughly $135 million in player pay -- MLB drew a line in the proverbial sand at 60 games, the union said in a statement Friday night.
Faced with that ultimatum, the players seem to have two choices according to The Philadelphia Inquirer:
(a) Agree to the 60-game framework that commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark discussed in Phoenix this week and mobilize for "spring training 2.0" in preparation for a season that would begin on approximately July 20.
(b) Decline the 60-game outline and force Manfred to either impose a schedule, likely from 48 to 60 games, or cancel the season altogether.
But MLB's message to the union on Friday signaled the owners' unwillingness to budge off a 60-game offer that they and Manfred interpreted as an outline for an agreement, not a continuance of the negotiations.
It marks the second time in four months that MLB and the players were unable to agree on what they'd agreed on. There was a dispute over the language in the March 26 accord, with MLB insisting that the per-game pay agreement could be renegotiated if fans weren't going to be permitted at games.
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