Michael Baumann – The Ringer: The week started off innocently enough with a continued push by Major League Baseball executives and owners to get a season underway. Except it wasn’t all that innocent, the plan was nefarious in fact. What MLB had put forth was a plan that scientists couldn’t endorse and no one outside of their inner circle could say would be safe. Things would get worse, but the week was pretty bad from jump.
Craig Goldstein – Baseball Prospectus ($): Then things got way worse when the owners finalized their proposal to start the season. What they offered wasn’t a plan, it was an attempt to loot from the players and drive a wedge into the Major League Baseball Players’ Association. Even reporters who had been firmly planted on the MLB teet were quick to push back against MLB’s proposal.
Eric Nusbaum – Baseball Prospectus ($): There won’t be an MLB season in 2020, but there was never likely to be one with COVID-19 still posing a threat. It’s important to keep that in mind when the owners inevitably try to blame the greedy players for the loss of the season. The players did what they should have and rejected a terrible offer from the owners. Hopefully, this will get fans to wake up and realize that ownership is the issue, not labor.
Lead photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA Today
