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CC Sabathia: MLB Owners Put 'Players in a Bad Position' with Leaked Pay Proposal
May 30, 2020
Former MLB pitcher CC Sabathia believes the league is hurting the players association by trying to negotiate through the media.
Speaking on his R2C2 podcast with co-host Ryan Ruocco (h/t Brendan Kuty of NJ.com), Sabathia explained the league "put the players in a bad position" by leaking their financial proposal to the media:
"They are at a negotiation, and they do have the (end of the Collective Bargaining Agreement) coming. Nobody wants to hear all of that stuff though. We've just been missing sports and we want to get it back on. But as a player, I understand, too. I mean, working in the front office, too, I understand now to how owners want to make money. Players want to make money, too. I hate to make it about that at this time, when we’re going through something like that, and like this in the country. But it kind of is what it is."
Per ESPN's Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers, MLB made its first proposal to the union on Tuesday for an 82-game regular season that would require players to make a percentage of their normal salary, with the scale moving based on how much a player gets paid.
For instance, anyone with a salary of more than $20 million would only receive 20 percent of their total value. The scale increases as player salaries get smaller, with deals between $563,501 to $1 million able to earn up to 72.5 percent of their total value.
Passan and Rogers noted players "bristled" at that proposal and would counter it in the next couple of days.
Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, the MLBPA's counteroffer is expected to require players receive their full prorated 82-game salaries and a regular-season schedule in the range of 100 games.
The two sides can't set a start date for the season until they come to an agreement on compensation and number of games to be played.