Reese Kaplan -- It Takes Two to Tango

Right now the major league team owners and the players association are involved in a no-holds-barred cage match in order to get the baseball season restarted for an 81 game half-season in July.  There are issues on both sides to be considered but there’s no excuse for either the owners or the players to bear 100% of the burden.

The latest missive from the owners this week has a sliding scale payroll schedule for the players to help curtail the impact the coronavirus has had on their profitability.  On the other hand, the players are due their salaries per their contracts, but the agreements presume that the games actually will be played and the athletes are earning that big check.  The COVID-19 situation was not something either side could have predicted accurately, so we’re working on unfettered ground.  How you divide up the financial pain is something no one planned for in advance and no one wants to give an inch.

The current scale is pretty devastating if you are a player.  While the initial numbers don’t sound so bad, remember what the paycheck of a professional baseball player is.  According to ESPN, the average major league salary is $3.9 million per year.  That’s not too shabby considering what most of us earn in our jobs.  

The first bracket is for rookies and truly fringe players.  Those athletes earning between $563K and $1 million get to keep 70% of their pay.  That’s not too shabby considering how little they wll actually be playing.  If you get 70% pay for 50% of a season, they really have no right to complain.  

The second bracket is where it starts to get a little dicey.  If you are in the $1 million to $5 million salary spectrum, you’re expected to take a 50% hit.  Arguments can be made either way on this metric, but half pay for half play isn’t totally off base.  

However, if you are a veteran player earning between $5 and $10 million per year, you are expected to earn only 40% of your salary for 50% of your normal work.  Huh?  How does that make sense?  You are going to deliver a half season’s worth of baseball but get paid less than half your salary?

The worst one is for the true stars of major league baseball.  Players in the stratosphere of payroll are expected to earn just 20% of their paycheck but are expected to give 100% of their effort on a half-schedule.  Why is it that the best players are taking the brunt of the hit for this pandemic?  Did they cause it themselves?  Aren’t they putting their health (and lives) on the line as much as the rookie getting 70% of his salary?

Now, to be fair, the owners are using a business projection of losing $4 billion in aggregate if the games are played without fans in the stadium.  That possibility may not be a league decision but one left to the local municipalities.  It is not fair for the owners to take all of the hit for the loss of revenue, but isn’t that part of the cost of doing business?  The games were stopped, which means the players were unable to do what they signed on to do.  That result is not their fault, so it’s unfair to penalize them disproportionately for the missing revenue.

Maybe I’m being overly simplistic, but if you’re going to play half a season, have the players take half a salary which matches the same rate they would have gotten had they played the whole season and gotten 100% of the contractual value.  The owners have a one-time loss this year which is unfortunate but unavoidable.  The owners will continue their revenue stream later this year and every year into the future.  Players have a functional lifespan of about 10-15 years if they are among the best and then they must move onto something less lucrative.  

It’s good to see progress being made in the talks, even if it’s mutually unfair.  Marcus Stroman said, “This season is not looking promising. Keeping the mind and body ready regardless. Time to dive into some life-after-baseball projects. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy. Brighter times remain ahead!”