UPDATE (11:31 p.m. ET): There actually will not be another proposal from the league, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
There will be NO counter from #MLB. It’s in Commissioner Rob Manfred’s hands.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 14, 2020
ORIGINAL STORY: The negotiations to start the 2020 Major League Baseball season don’t appear to be getting any less contentious, but things might not be totally stagnant yet.
The MLB Players Association on Saturday shot down the latest request from the league, and in doing so MLBPA executive director Tony Clark sent a strongly worded public statement in response.
Shortly thereafter, the league fired off a statement of its own.
Here’s Major League Baseball’s statement.
With that phrase accusing the union of failing to bargain in good faith, it’s practically written to present to an arbitration panel the moment a grievance is filed. pic.twitter.com/u5vtriPsVT
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) June 14, 2020
Seeing as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred can mandate a season, the initial reaction was that the latest proposal getting rejected meant Manfred instituting a season could be imminent.
But according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the league actually is expected to submit a counterproposal.
MLB is expected to respond to the union Monday:
A counter proposal is expected.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 14, 2020
That’s significant, as the players union had indicated they would not be sending an offer back to the league.
As a result, the wait continues.
