Clock Running For Fate Of 2020 MLB Season

KAZ’S KORNER

It doesn’t matter what the decision about starting the 2020 Major League Baseball

season looks like, most fans and probably many players and coaches won’t consider it a

legitimate season due to the shortened number of games, the empty stadiums and the con-

tinued hassle about the money.

The owners and the union both agreed players would receive full prorated salaries

for the number of games that could be played.

And with empty stadiums, the money story won’t be as shiny for the owners,

although they will receive the agreed-upon broadcast fees.

The two sides have been squabbling for nearly two months since the coronavirus

delayed the start of the 2020 season on March 26 with the players agreeing to salaries

prorated according to the eventual length of the season, according to Monday’s edition of

the Houston Chronicle.

Exactly two months later on May 26 the owners proposed an 82-game schedule

with an expanded 14-team playoff field and asked the players to take an additional pay

cut. The higher a player’s salary, the greater the percentage of his reduction.

Five days later the players countered with a 114-game season and insisted on

prorated salaries. Any player with COVID-19 concerns would have the right not to play

the entire season.

On June 8 the owners came back with a plan that consisted of a 76-game schedule

that would pay the players 75 percent of their prorated salaries. That would drop to 50

percent in the event the postseason, which would include 16 teams in this latest offer,

were not played.

The next day players responded with a proposal calling for 89 games at full

prorated salaries and a postseason consisting of 16 teams. They also proposed a joint $5

million contribution to aid minor leagues and charitable organizations focusing on social

justice issues and a flat fee of $50 million if the postseason were canceled.

The owners on June 12 insisted that the season not extend beyond October

because of fears of a second COVID-19 wave and countered with a 72-game season that

would guarantee players 70 percent of their prorated salaries, increasing it to 80 percent if

the postseason takes place.

Unwilling to budge from receiving the full prorated salaries they agreed to in

March, players, aware that same agreement gives Commissioner Rob Manfred the power

to unilaterally authorize a 2020 season that likely would consist of 48-54 games and the

usual 10 teams in the playoffs.

Ironically, this occurred the same day it was revealed MLB and Turner Sports

agreed on a $1 billion contract for future postseason broadcast rights.

The agreement between the owners and the players still leaves plenty of questions

unanswered as a new MLB agreement between the union and the owners is set to be

hammered out in 2021.

KWICKIES…Shadeur Sanders, who happens to be the son of Hall of famer

Deion Sanders, had a workout with Tom Brady last week and picked up some pointers at

his quarterback position. The young Sanders enters his senior year of high school with

Alabama. LSU and Penn State already contacting the talented quarterback, according to

ESPN’s “First Take” show Monday morning.

Daniel Berger birdied the 72 nd hole Sunday in last weekend’s first PGA Tour

tournament in three months and beat Collin Morikawa, who missed a three-foot par putt

on the first playoff hole in the Charles Schwab Challenge. It was the third victory for

Berger, who ironically won every tourney during this week.

Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork disagrees with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott

when he told athletic directors of the state’s largest schools to expect 50 % capacity at

their respective football stadiums this fall. Bjork optimistically envisions a full Kyle Field

for every game during the 2020 season. Perhaps he has a formula for COVID-19 vaccine

up his sleeve.

All Ohio State football players will be asked to sign a virus-risk waiver which the

school will not share the cumulative testing information publicly.

It’s hard to believe that All-Pro quarterback Cam Newton still does not have a

job, probably due to the fact his health is not good enough for him to be a starting

quarterback. I think he got blasted too many times while putting his head down and

taking on those 250-pound linebackers instead of merely running out of bounds.

JUST BETWEEN US…I thought the days of bragging about my grandson Lt.

Logan Smith’s baseball accomplishments were over now that he was commissioned last

month and graduated from West Point Saturday, receiving a handshake from President

Donald Trump. However, at Thursday’s Superintendent’s Award Convocation, hosted by

the school’s superintendent Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, one of the awards handed out was

for the Outstanding Baseball Player’s Performance of the Year that went to Logan for his

dazzling one-hit shutout of 15 th -ranked Duke in the season’s opening game on Feb. 14.

Logan outpitched the Blue Devils’ ace Bryce Jarvis, who incidentally was the 18 th player

taken in the first round of the recent Major League Baseball draft by the Arizona

Diamondbacks.