Chicago Cubs: MLB owners need to make up their minds on 2020

Owners remain divided on the 2020 season and it could mean no Cubs baseball.

In a phone call including owners from all 30 teams, it was reported that they are not of one mind on how to proceed.  Some owners, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney, would just prefer to cut their losses and cancel the season.

Olney didn’t say how many owners held this view or which ones preferred that course as opposed to, something else I guess.  Nothing like sending mixed messages when fans, including Cubs fans, are already angry at everyone.  I suspect that for many reasons Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is not one of those looking to cancel 2020.

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This is getting ridiculous

On March 26 everyone – MLB, the owners and the MLBPA agreed to a proposal to pay players a prorated salary based on the number of games to be played.  Great. Sounds fair. Can’t wait.

By May, two months later, the league and the owners decided, “Hold on, that’s not good enough, we want more cuts.”  The stated reason was that games will likely have to be played without fans in the stands.

Funny, but it was well known by March 26, when the deal was made, that there very likely wouldn’t be fans in the stands.  I mean they had just canceled spring training.  MLB couldn’t have gamed that financial scenario out in March?

Then, the league leaked an email from an MLBPA lawyer and tried to claim that the MLBPA agreed to deeper cuts. The email indicated no such thing.  MLBPA agreed to reexamine the situation per the March agreement.

MLB offered a revised salary arrangement, a sliding scale based on salary levels.  The players balked at that idea and on May 30 the player’s association then made a counteroffer – one that likely won’t be warmly received by the owners.  MLB responded on June 1 with a proposal for between 50 and 60 games with players getting their prorated salary.

Now, if that is the case we could be closing in on a deal.  After all, now it appears the salary issue is resolved and MLB and MLBPA are just negotiating a number.  Assuming there’s a number between 114 games and say 55 games, somewhere on the order of 85 games then we could see baseball.  If the owners can get their act together.