With owners giving approval on May 11 to Major League Baseball's proposal to begin the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, negotiations are now ongoing between the league and Players Association.
The goal is to begin a second spring training of sorts around June 10 and for Opening Day to be around July 1, meaning the league and players have a finite amount of time to reach an agreement.
Here's the latest...
May 14, 9:29 PM:
During an interview with CNN, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred outlined the league's coronavirus testing plan and also expressed his optimism for reaching a deal with the MLBPA.
"All of our players would be tested multiple times a week" for coronavirus, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says on the efforts to bring baseball back. "That testing would be supplemented less frequently by antibody testing as well."#CNNTownHallhttps://t.co/zU95g1FwYr pic.twitter.com/J1MKyc5AJ0
- Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) May 15, 2020
"I think it's hopeful that we will have some Major League Baseball this summer," Manfred said. "We are making plans about playing in empty stadiums, but as I've said before, all of those plans are dependent on what the public health situation is and us reaching a conclusion that will be safe for our players and other employees to come back to work."
As for reaching a deal with the players on reduced salaries for the season, Manfred said he's very optimistic a deal can be reached.
"Me, personally, I have great confidence that we'll reach an agreement with the Players Association," said Manfred. "Both that it's safe to come back to work and to work out the economic issues that need to be resolved."
Manfred confirmed that the league will use a facility in Utah to test players multiple times per week, with results available in 24 hours. If a player is experiencing symptoms, instant testing will be available.
If a player tests positive, he will be immediately quarantined until he tests negative twice, and any other player who came in contact with that player would receive instant testing.
Manfred as also asked about players potentially declining to play due to safety concerns.
"We hope that we will be able to convince the vast majority of our players that it's safe to return to work," Manfred said. "… At the end of the day, however, if there are players with either health conditions or just their own personal doubts, we would never force them or try to force them to come back to work. They can wait until they feel they're ready to come."
May 14, 1:57 PM:
MLB has partnered with a Utah lab in order to provide coronavirus testing to players and support staff, in addition to "thousands more in the general public," reports Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, who says the testing plan was presented by the league to the Players Association on Tuesday.
The lab, The Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, will turn its current lab (which currently performs testing for performance enhancing drugs) into a coronavirus testing facility.
Any return by MLB this season has been expected to include a coronavirus testing element, but there had been questions surrounding the ethics of potentially using thousands of tests on players during a time when many in the general public are still unable to get tested. It's fair to believe the above agreement would allay some of those concerns.
May 14, 9:24 AM:
As MLB and the Players Association continue to negotiate, one prominent agent told SNY's Andy Martino that there's "no question" some players will sit out the 2020 season due to concerns over contracting coronavirus and/or passing it to a family member.
As Martino wrote Thursday, those players will look at the possibility of taking a further pay cut from an already prorated salary and conclude the risk is not worth the reward.
Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell expressed his hesitance on Wednesday night.
"I gotta get my money," Snell said on his Twitch channel. "I'm not playing unless I get mine, okay? And that's just the way it is for me. Like, I'm sorry you guys think differently, but the risk is way the hell higher and the amount of money I'm making is way lower, why would I think about doing that? Like you know, I'm just, I'm sorry."
Snell then texted Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times to explain further.
"I mean, honestly, it's just scary to risk my life to get COVID-19 as well as not knowing and spreading it to others. I just want everyone to be healthy and get back to our normal lives 'cause I know I miss mine!"
May 13, 11:19 AM:
The league's proposal to implement a universal designated hitter for the 2020 season is expected to be "easily approved" by the players, reports Jon Heyman.
One of the teams that could benefit the most from the potential use of the DH? The Mets, with Yoenis Cespedes, J.D. Davis, Robinson Cano, and Dominic Smith among those who could be beneficiaries of the extra hitter in the lineup.
When it comes to Cespedes, who has missed the majority of the last two seasons due to lower-body injuries, he could be the Met best-suited to DH.
May 13, 9:31 AM:
With the league and Players Association speaking Tuesday about the restart proposal (with the league not yet formally proposing its economic idea), the league will soon be sharing an 80-page document with the union "outlining potential health and safety protocols," reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
According to Rosenthal, the document will cover topics including testing protocols and what could happen if a player or other essential employee tests positive for coronavirus.
SNY's Andy Martino reported earlier this week that the sport would not necessarily need to shut down if a player tested positive.
May 12, 8:57 AM:
The "sentiment of several of the game's most prominent agents" is that a softer tone should be used during the negotiations -- not a tone similar to ones used by prominent player agent Scott Boras and MLBPA chief Tony Clark.
"He does not speak for all of us," one prominent agent told SNY's Andy Martino regarding Boras' aggressive public stance.
May 11, 8:26 PM
Scott Boras has called for the players to reject the league's initial proposal.
"The players I represent are unified in that they reached an agreement and they sacrificed anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of their salaries so that the games could amicably continue," Boras told Sports Illustrated's Stephanie Apstein. "The owners represented during that negotiation that they could operate without fans in the ballpark. Based on that, we reached an agreement and there will not be a renegotiation of that agreement."
May 11, 3:50 PM
When it comes to what would happen if a player tests positive for coronavirus after the season resumes, a league executive told SNY's Andy Martino that the sport would not necessarily need to shut down.
The scenario laid out by the executive:
The player who tests positive would be isolated, with the entire team receiving immediate coronavirus tests. At that point, any players found to have the virus would also be isolated and replaced by a member of the team's large taxi squad (which could consist of roughly 20 players). Players who do not test positive would continue to play.
May 11, 2:21 PM
With the proposal agreed to by the owners, the next step -- as SNY's Andy Martino reported earlier Monday -- will be that proposal being brought to the MLB Players Association on Tuesday.
During the call between the league and the players on Tuesday, it is expected that the players will be asked to take additional pay cuts beyond the already agreed-upon cuts that they took in March.
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