Players Association rejects final MLB proposal

On Monday, the MLB Players Association voted on what appears to be the league’s final proposal for a 2020 season. The players overwhelmingly voted against the proposal by a mark of 33-5.

Here’s the proposal that the players rejected:

A rejection was always the most likely scenario after the Players Association offered up their own proposal, which featured a 70-game season with full prorated salaries. The owners were unwilling to move much towards the middle, and their final proposal is essentially what commissioner Rob Manfred can impose, but with some extra ownership goodies to take freedom from the players.

After the vote, the Players Association released following statement:

Here it is in full:

The MLBPA Executive Board met multiple times in recent days to assess the status of our efforts to resume the 2020 season.

Earlier this evening, the full Board reaffirmed the players’ eagerness to return to work as soon and as safely as possible. To that end we anticipate finalizing a comprehensive set of health and safety protocols with Major League Baseball in the coming days, and we await word from the league on the resumption of spring training camps and a proposed 2020 schedule.

While we had hoped to reach a revised back to work agreement with the league, the Players remain fully committed to proceeding under our current agreement and getting back on the field for the fans, for the game, and for each other.

The implication here is quite simple. The players intend to show up for and participate in good faith in a 2020 season should Manfred unilaterally impose it. To their credit, the Players Association has been open about this for weeks, and the owners have just shuffled around, back-tracked, made asses of themselves, and seemingly fought overtime to keep baseball from happening this year.

The assumption is still that Manfred will impose a season, and we’ll get MLB baseball in 2020. That announcement could come very soon, but the owners can vote against it, so nothing is set.

Regardless, with no agreement being reached, it’s clear that we’re still at the very beginning of a long and ugly labor battle. There will be arguments for days, weeks, months, and years to come; there will be money lost; there will be grievances filed; and there will very possibly (arguably probably) be a work stoppage down the road.

We’re just getting started. But, at the very least, we’re close to finally knowing whether or not there will be MLB baseball — and San Francisco Giants baseball — in 2020.