On Tuesday, Major League Baseball owners passed and submitted a proposal that the Players Association will, very likely, turn down.
After all, that proposal would result in all but three Pirates making less money in 2020 than Bobby Bonilla will receive in deferrals from the Mets this year. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
The league is insistent that they cannot pay players their prorated salaries -- like the two sides agreed to in March -- without fans in the stands, and that players would need to be compensated differently in order to play in 2020. A few weeks ago the league approved a revenue sharing plan that called for a 50-50 split, but they did not even bother to submit it to the union because it was certain they would turn it down.
Tuesday's offer does not have revenue sharing, instead opting for a tiered structure where players who make closer to the minimum will receive almost all the money they were owed, but the highest paid players would take massive pay cuts. The union was not particularly pleased with this offer either, and while they didn't immediately reject it, it seems very unlikely that they will even vote on it.
Jeff Passan explained on Twitter late Tuesday night how salaries would be calculated:
The salary scale in the proposal is:
- $0 to $563,500 (league minimum) paid at 90%
- $563,501 to $1 million paid at 72.5%
- $1,000,001 to $5 million paid at 50%
- $5,000,001 to $10 million paid at 40%
- $10,000,001 to $20 million paid at 30%
- $20,000,001 and up paid at 20%
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
Now for a harder one: Mike Trout. His 2020 salary: $37,666,666. Prorated: $19,065,843. He would get $256,706 for his first $563,500 earned, $160,185 for the second tier, $1,012,346 for the third and fourth, $1,518,519 for the fifth and $1,788,477 for the sixth. Total: $5,748,577.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020
