MLB commissioner Rob Manfred ‘not confident’ there will be a 2020 season
As all the other major sports’ commissioners joined ESPN on Monday night to offer a glimpse into the process of returning to play, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred provided a different outlook for a return to baseball.
“I’m not confident,” Manfred said, looking into the camera from what looked like MLB Network headquarters in New York. “I think there’s real risk (that there is no season), and as long as there’s no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue.”
Just last week, Manfred told ESPN a baseball season was 100% likely. Apparently he misunderstood the definition of 100%, which is, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a synonym for “unquestionably.”
Well, now there’s a question. A big, annoying and persistent question.
Will we have baseball in 2020?
“Who cares?” is becoming a perfectly reasonable response, with MLB owners and players fighting publicly for the better part of the pandemic.
But it’s particularly frustrating at this juncture, after both sides exchanged several deals that slowly crept toward one another, only for the owners to offer a follow-up deal nearly identical to their previous one late last week.
Andrew McCutchen used his Twitter to compare the owners’ tactics to promising a child juice if he went potty in the toilet, then offering only water over and over as the child begged for juice.
Manfred hit back against the players on ESPN, saying, “The owners are a hundred percent committed to getting baseball back on the field. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that I’m a hundred percent certain that’s gonna happen.”
Of course, Manfred works for the owners and it’s his job to send a message that paints them in a good light.
He blamed Tony Clark, head of the MLB Players Association, for “bad-faith tactics.”
According to Manfred, Clark is only publicly saying the players want to play, but is privately preparing to file a billion-dollar grievance as soon as the commissioner sets a schedule without the players’ approval, something in his power.
It’s just the latest back-and-forth from a disagreement that stems from March, when the season was postponed and the players thought they agreed to a deal that would cancel their salaries but guarantee them a prorated version of those salaries when play eventually returned.
Not if there’s no fans in the stands, the owners are now saying. And they thought that was clear beforehand.
We’re left at an impasse.
“It’s just a disaster for our game, absolutely no question about it,” Manfred said. “It shouldn’t be happening, and it’s important that we find a way to get past it and get the game back on the field for the benefit of our fans,”
Clark responded to Manfred’s comments with another pointed statement.
“Players are disgusted that after Rob Manfred unequivocally told Players and fans that there would ‘100%’ be a 2020 season, he has decided to go back on his word and is now threatening to cancel the entire season,” Clark said. “Any implication that the Players Association has somehow delayed progress on health and safety protocols is completely false, as Rob has recently acknowledged the parties are ‘very, very close.’
“This latest threat is just one more indication that Major League Baseball has been negotiating in bad faith since the beginning. This has always been about extracting additional pay cuts from Players and this is just another day and another bad faith tactic in their ongoing campaign.”
Also noteworthy on the ESPN special was NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s comments that the league was planning to bring 375 players to the “bubble” in Orlando, and there’s “not surprisingly” not a uniform view.
Many players are expected to sit out.
“If a player chooses not come, it’s not a breach of his contract,” Silver said. “We accept that.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3hvu1Vf
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