The MLB players’ union sent another proposal to the owners, suggesting an 89-game regular season with expanded playoffs and full prorated salaries.
Report: MLBPA proposes 89-game season, expanded playoffs, full prorated salaries — HardballTalk | NBC Sports
Kristi Hendriks is Oakland A’s pitcher Liam Hendrik’s wife. Kristi also is the Founder of For The Field Apparel. Liam has played for the Twins, Blue Jays, Royals, and the Oakland A’s. In 2019, Liam was a pitcher for the American League in the All Star Game. Fun Facts about Kristi She grew up with 17 […]
Touching Home with Kristi Hendriks — All About That Base
Baseball continues to be “baseball” by quietly coming to a stand still to the point where the season is in serious jeopardy. The MLBPA and owners cannot come to an agreement as to what should be done about the regular season and a prorated salary. The players feel they signed a guaranteed contract and deserve […]
The return of sports could bring about a unifying voice, and MLB may be on the outside looking in — Just a Tampa Sports Blog
The owners of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils are looking to expand their sports empire to baseball. Josh Harris, the billionaire co-founder of Apollo Global Management, and David Blitzer, an executive at private equity firm Blackstone, are among the suitors for the New York Mets, according to people familiar with the matter. The…
Billionaire Sports Owner Josh Harris Exploring New York Mets Bid (EXCLUSIVE) — Variety
This would undermine players’ ability to file grievances against the league in the event that they are placed in unsafe working conditions.
Report: owners want players to sign an “acknowledgment of risk” waiver before playing — HardballTalk | NBC Sports
Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times reports that Major League Baseball’s proposal to the players includes a revision to the league’s Operations Manual which would require players to sign an “acknowledgment of risk” waiver before playing.
The players, quite reasonably, believe that the waiver is aimed at undermining their ability to file grievances against the league in the event that they are placed in unsafe working conditions during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I mean, why else would they be proposing it now?
Either way, given how much uncertainty there is regarding what safe practices may be once play resumes, shifting all of the risk onto the players, while a predictable aim of the owners, is not a reasonable one. The only way for baseball to work during the pandemic will be if everyone is truly incentivized to make conditions as safe as possible for everyone in and around the game. A waiver does the opposite of that.
This is especially troubling given that Major League Baseball has claimed that it intends to contact and coordinate with local health departments on its safety protocols but, per Bradford William Davis’ reporting in the New York Daily News, they simply haven’t done so.
Between this and counteroffers that continue to want to pay players cents on the dollar, it’s almost as if Major League Baseball is looking for a way to get out of playing a 2020 season altogether.
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On Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays organization cut 26 minor league players, including four that spent time with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2019.
Blue Jays cut four members of 2019 Fisher Cats — Manchester Ink Link
TORONTO – On Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays organization cut 26 minor league players, including four that spent time with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in 2019.
Perhaps the most famous name on the list is first baseman Kacy Clemens, son of former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens.
Kacy began the season platooning at first base for the Fisher Cats, but went back down to Advanced-A Dunedin after putting up a .145/.247/.169 slash line over 24 games with New Hampshire, collecting just two extra-base hits and seven RBI, with a strikeout to walk rate of nearly 3:1.
Another first baseman, Christian Williams, was also on the list. Williams came to New Hampshire from Dunedin in May, just as Clemens was heading in the opposite direction. During his 79 appearances with the ‘Cats, Williams wasn’t much better offensively (.228/.276/.342)
Whenever the season finally starts, the Fisher Cats will still have options at first base. Nash Knight has played just under half of his five-year minor league career at first (127 games), and can fill in at second even though he’s played mostly at the hot corner.
Cullen Large and Deiferson Bareto could also theoretically step in, with each playing two games each at first during their minor league careers, and Ryan Noda may get a shot after he supplanted Clemens as the primary first baseman in Dunedin last year (.238/.372/.418), leading the team in homers (13), doubles (27) and RBI (74) over 117 games, also collecting 14 stolen bases and 74 walks.
The other two cuts included pitcher Turner Larkins, who threw one inning of relief for the ‘Cats last season and infielder Jake Brodt, who went 0-for-6 with two strikeouts in two games in Manchester in late August.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that Major League Baseball has rejected the MLBPA’s proposal for a 114-game season and has not sent a counter offer. The league said it had started discussions with the owners, “about a shorter season without fans, and is ready to discuss additional ideas with the union.” This should be understood […]
MLB rejected the players’ season proposal for 114 games and does not send a counter — Archyde
Archer began feeling shoulder discomfort late last season. Now his future is up in the air.
Chris Archer out until 2021 due to thoracic outlet surgery — HardballTalk | NBC Sports
Bad news for Chris Archer and the Pittsburgh Pirates: the team just announced that Archer has been shut down until 2021 after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery.
Thoracic outlet surgery, which has become more common in baseball in recent years, is nothing approaching routine. Lots of pitchers have never come back from it or have not come back in anything approaching their previous form.
Archer was shut down late in the 2019 season due to shoulder discomfort. This after posting a 3-9 record in 23 starts and a 5.19 ERA, in 119.2 innings pitched. He pitched in two innings during spring training.
Archer, who originally came up and starred for the Tampa Bay Rays, was traded to the Pirates in the summer of 2018 for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows, and a player to be named later who ended up being minor leaguer Shane Baz. That was already a trade that heavily-favored the Rays. Now it looks even worse for the Pirates in hindsight.
Agent Scott Boras will reportedly cover the salaries of his minor league clients across the league who have been recently been released.
Scott Boras to pay salaries of released minor league clients — HardballTalk | NBC Sports
One day after getting big blowback, the Nationals have reversed course on a puzzling decision.
Nationals back off of minor league stipend cut — HardballTalk | NBC Sports
Yesterday it was reported that the Washington Nationals would cut the weekly stipend paid to their minor leaguers from $400 a week to $300 per week through the end of June.
For frame of reference, MLB had agreed to pay all minor leaguers $400 per week through May 31. Several teams have agreed to extend that, with the Royals and Twins agreeing to do it all the way through the end of August. The Oakland A’s decided to stop the payments in their entirety as of today. The Nationals were unique in cutting $100 off of the checks.
The A’s and the Nationals have taken a great amount of flak for what they’ve done. The Nats move was immediately countered by Nationals major league players announcing that they would cover what the organization would not.
The A’s are, apparently, still sticking to their plan. The Nats, however, have reversed course:
Source: Nationals owners have decided to pay minor leaguers $400 a week after deciding to cut the stipend from $400 to $300.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) June 1, 2020
One can easily imagine a situation in which Nats ownership just decided, cold-heartedly, to lop that hundred bucks off of each minor league check and not worry about a moment longer. What’s harder to imagine is what seems to have actually happened: the Nats did it without realizing that anyone would take issue with it, were surprised by the blowback, and then reversed course. Like, what kind of a bubble where they living in that they did not think people would consider that a low-rent thing to do?
In any event, good move, Nats, even if I cannot even begin to comprehend your thought process.
Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle announced Sunday that he and his teammates will cover pay cuts for minor-league players.
Sean Doolittle says Washington Nationals players will cover pay cuts for organization’s minor leaguers —
Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle announced on Twitter on Sunday night that he and his teammates will cover a pay cut that minor-league players in the organization will have to endure.
“After hearing that Nationals minor league players are facing additional pay cuts, the current members of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball club will be coming together and committing funds to make whole the lost wages from their weekly stipends,” Doolittle wrote. “All of us were minor leaguers at one point in our careers and we know how important the weekly stipends are for them and their families during these uncertain times.
“Minor leaguers are an essential part of our organization and they are bearing the heaviest burden of this situation as their season is likely to be cancelled. We recognize that and want to stand with them and show our support.”
MLBPA COUNTER-PROPOSAL:114-game season, expanded playoffs
DAVID PRICE:Pitcher pledges $1,000 to every minor league player in Dodgers’ farm system
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The Nationals were to decrease minor leaguers’ pay to $300 per week in June, as reported by The Athletic. This development comes after the organization released more than 30 minor leaguers, according to Britt Ghiri of The Athletic.
The view from left field 