Players call MLB proposal ‘extremely disappointing’
A rookie at the major-league minimum would keep about 47% of his original salary this year while multimillionaire stars Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole would lose more than 77% under a sliding-scale proposal by big league teams that players found “extremely disappointing.”
Major League Baseball made the proposal to the players’ union Tuesday during a digital meeting rather than the 50-50 revenue-sharing plan that owners initially approved for their negotiators on May 11, two people familiar with the plan told the Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were not announced.
In addition, the union said “the sides also remain far apart on health and safety protocols” aimed at starting the pandemic-delayed season around July 4.
“We made a proposal to the union that is completely consistent with the economic realities facing our sport,” MLB said in a statement. “We look forward to a responsive proposal.”
The revenue-sharing plan this month was met with hostility by the union. That plan was not presented to players when talks began the following day.
During that session, MLB gave the union a presentation claiming billions of dollars of anticipated losses.
Under the plan given the union Tuesday, a player would keep 90% of his salary up to the $563,500 big league minimum, including those with lower salaries while on optional or outright assignments in the minor leagues, according to information obtained by the AP.
The amount would decrease to 72.5% from $563,501 though $1 million, to 50% from $1,000,001 through $5 million, to 40% from $5,000,001 through $10 million, to 30% from $10,000,0001 through $20 million and to 20% from $20,000,001 and up.
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