The Major League Baseball Players Association is very disappointed with the league's economic proposal, which was sent to them Tuesday, a source told Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The proposed cuts to player earnings were described as "massive," Drellich adds.
MLB reportedly offered to share more playoff revenue but the union believes the concessions it would have to make in the regular season did not balance out.
The MLBPA's plan is to submit the proposal to its players for their thoughts before deciding whether further negotiations are worthwhile, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
"We made a proposal to the union that is completely consistent with the economic realities facing our sport," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney told Jon Heyman of MLB Network. "We look forward to a responsive proposal from the MLBPA."
The proposal includes pay cuts for all players, but the cuts are tiered, with top earners losing a larger percentage. The tiers are unclear, although the highest-paid players could earn less than 40% of their expected 2020 salaries, according to Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Under a March agreement that the players believe entitles them to a full prorated share of their earnings, all players would have made roughly 50% of their salaries in an 82-game season.
Passan and Rogers outlined some examples of proposed pay cuts based on players' expected annual salaries prior to the season postponement:
| 2020 salary | Proposed salary |
|---|---|
| $35M | $7.84M |
| $30M | $6.95M |
| $25M | $6.05M |
| $20M | $5.15M |
| $15M | $4.05M |
| $10M | $2.95M |
| $5M | $1.64M |
| $2M | $736K |
| $1M | $424K |
| $563.5K | $262K |
The union's reaction to the league's economic proposal is the latest in a string of sour negotiations between the two parties about the parameters of a shortened 2020 season to be played during the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, the league reportedly preferred a revenue-sharing model, which the union rejected, with MLBPA executive director Tony Clark likening any revenue sharing to a salary cap. MLB is the only one of the major four North American sports leagues that doesn't use a hard salary cap, instead featuring a luxury tax with increased financial penalties based on spending thresholds.
It's unclear whether the submitted economic proposal involved a revenue-sharing element.
