Houston Astros: MLBPA must hold the line but compromise on negotiations

The Houston Astros’ 2020 season seems very much up in the air. The MLBPA must hold the line but they’ve got to make compromises as well. What’s up?

The Houston Astros continue to wait as MLB and the MLBPA try to work together to get a deal done. It’s been a back-and-forth that you’d normally see in a lockout situation where neither side is close to coming to an agreement.

But technically there’s no lockout, there’s just this thing called a global pandemic that is significant to the likes of what this generation has never seen and sports leagues around the world are trying to navigating the rough waters of jump-starting their businesses back into relevance.

You’d think a sound solution would come into play as the league is losing about $75 million with games not being played, turnstile revenue, apparel/food/beverage sales at ballparks and all the perks that come with a robust 162-game season.

But the more it appears that the two sides are getting closer, the more further it seems that they’re apart on agreeing in principle.

It’s terrible that things have come to this as other leagues have reached agreements with their players and their starts are imminent but how could baseball, categorized as America’s pastime, could be at such an impasse?

I’m ready to see Jose Altuve, George Springer, Justin Verlander, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and the rest of the supporting cast again!

Well, first things first, the MLBPA wants the players to be paid their full salary but prorated based

More from House of Houston

off the reduced number of games that would be played in this season, considering that we’re now in mid-July and the season would’ve started three months ago.

The league wants to pay players at a partially prorated sum, meaning that they’ll take a hit and earn less than if things were under normal circumstances.

The player’s union recently rejected MLB’s latest proposal — with no counteroffer — and has demanded that league set a schedule for 2020 by tomorrow. But without a return-to-play scenario that involves the safety measures that must be taken amid the coronavirus, this puts the league in a tough spot, especially if it has to be tweaked again if delays continue to be incurred.

Ultimately, all of us are making a sacrifice in some way and I think both sides will have to do that.

I don’t see what’s wrong with the players getting their salary prorated at 70 percent with the remaining 30 percent to be deferred and paid out over time once things get back to normal.

Next. Rob Manfred must step down as MLB Commissioner. dark

Baseball will be back, it will be robust and they’re going to quickly earn what they lost back but it’s about making that sacrifice now for the sake of the vitality of the sport.

So it’s time to cut the crap and let’s play ball!

Home/Houston Astros