Royals players say they’re ready to return as impasse with MLB deepens
Once upon a time, Major League Baseball seemed to have the inside track to be the first sport to resume during the coronavirus pandemic.
But as other leagues announce plans to begin play, there is a danger that the entire 2020 Major League Baseball season will be wiped out as the owners and players’ union squabble over the number of games and salaries.
On Thursday night, the MLB Players Association released a statement saying it would accept no further pay cuts.
“In this time of unprecedented suffering at home and abroad, players want nothing more than to get back to work and provide baseball fans with the game we all love,” MLBPA director Tony Clark said in the statement. “But we cannot do this alone.
“Earlier this week, Major League Baseball communicated its intention to schedule a dramatically shortened 2020 season unless players negotiate salary concessions. The concessions being sought are in addition to billions in player salary reductions that have already been agreed upon.
“This threat came in response to an association proposal aimed at charting a path forward.”
The union statement came a day after MLB rejected the players’ proposal for a 114-game regular season with prorated salaries, ESPN reported. MLB said there would be no counterproposal to its original plan of an 82-game season with prorated salaries cut even further.
While both sides had hoped to begin training camps in mid-June and start games around July 4, there appears to be a stalemate with no resolution in sight.
Many players retweeted the MLBPA statement and a few spoke out on Twitter.
Royals infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield tweeted the players are eager to return:
Merrifield also responded to a fan:
Infielder Nicky Lopez echoed that statement when he retweeted the MLBPA statement:
The Royals’ Hunter Dozier retweeted this from Indians pitcher Adam Plutko:
Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty shared these:
