Baseball. Is. Back

After months of negotiations there has finally been an agreement and there will be baseball in 2020. Although it's a shame the process couldn't go more smoothly, there is much to rejoice about baseball being back.

The season will be 60 games long and it will bring the designated hitter to the National League. The agreement will also bring the controversial extra inning rule where any extra inning will begin with a runner at second base.

According to Jon Heyman each teams schedule would consist of 40 games against their divisional opponents and 20 games against their cross league counterpart. For the Cubs this would mean games against the AL Central (Indians, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox).

Although the circumstances of all this is not ideal, and is likely a set up to a huge labor fight after the current CBA expires in 2021. It is baseball at the very least so embrace the chaos, and enjoy the 60 game sprint.

MLB, MLBPA nearing an agreement?

Just days after all hope seemed lost Jon Heyman of MLB Network is now reporting that an agreement is near just shortly after reporting Rob Manfred and MLBPA chief Tony Clark had a meeting Arizona.

Although that has been slightly backtracked by Evan Drellich of the Athletic and the MLBPA itself, it seems like at the very least there is some sort of momentum towards an agreement. That is confirmed by Manfreds own words who says in a statement "We left that meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agree could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents,"

Obviously there is still work to be done, but this is definitely the most positive news for baseball in recent days. Buster Olney of ESPN says the new proposal is for 60 games at full pro rated salary that would start on July 19. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the deal would also include 16 playoff teams.

60 games is still not enough games, as Robert Murray says, but the full pro rated salary is a significant change and one that could potentially spark the momentum towards a deal and bring baseball back.

This post will be updated as information unfolds

Update: Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds some more information on the proposal, including a universal DH for both 2020 and 2021 and a $25 million postseason pool.

The universal DH is the most notable addition, and it's addition would likely end up being a permanent one. There was already momentum towards it leading up to CBA negotiations after the 2021 season, so it appears like that will be coming a few years early.

Rob Manfred: "Not confident" in baseball season

Just days after saying he was 100 percent confident in a baseball season Rob Manfred has now changed his tune. In a interview for the ESPN special "The Return of Sports" Manfred said ""I'm not confident. I think there's real risk, and as long as there's no dialogue, that real risk is gonna continue,"

This is further backed up by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times who said the MLB sent a letter to the players saying there will not be a baseball season unless the players waive their right to any legal claims against the league.

Being quite frank, that is complete bullshit.

The owners continue to offer proposals that are either a insufficient amount of games or don't pay the players their full pro-rated salary, and not only that, they now want the players to waive any right to file a grievance over negotiating in bad faith in order to play a season at all.

The players want to get paid for the amount of games that they play and to play as much of the season as possible, whether it was 114 games, 89 games, or 76 games.

The owners, however, do not want to do that. Their final proposal included 72 games with players being paid 80-85 percent of the prorated salary depending on whether the postseason was completed or not.

Imagine being asked to work 10 hours and being told you would only get paid for eight of those hours, you wouldn't be happy right? So why should the players be expected to play games that they wouldn't even be paid for?

The players are not budging on their belief that they should be paid the full pro-rated salary for the amount of games they end up playing.  That is completely justified, if they were to end up playing 82 games then they should be paid for those 82 games.

The only proposal the owners made that involved paying the players their deserve, full pro-rated salary involved playing around 50 total games, which, if you know anything about baseball is not a sufficient sample size to determine who the best team in the league is.

It's an embarrassment to the game of baseball, the owners are crying cheap when they have no justification to, the players should be paid for the amount of games that are played, and trying to force a 50 game season is a farce.

Cubs draft SS Ed Howard

The Cubs used their first round selection last night on a local kid drafting Mt. Carmel shorstop Ed Howard with the 16th overall pick.

Howard, 18, stands at 6' 2" and weighs 185 LBs. He hit .421 with three home runs during his junior year, but lost the entirety of his senior year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was named first-team Class 4A All-State along with appearing in the Perfect Game All-America Game, Under Armour All-American Game, and the MLB High School All-Star Game.

MLB Pipeline  had him ranked as their 15th overall prospect and describes his swing as "Using a simple right-handed swing and a calm approach, Howard makes repeated hard contact." He is considered an excellent defender being described as "A smooth defender at shortstop, Howard definitely will be able to remain at the position. He can make all the plays with athletic actions, quick hands and a strong arm capable of making throws from a variety of angles,"

Howard is years away from any sort of significant impact on the big league level, but this is an extremely solid pick by the Cubs. His defensive prowess on top of his potential to be a solid offensive contributor will easily make him one of the top Cubs prospects immediately.

The owners reject the players proposal, and will not offer a counterproposal

Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reports that Major League Baseball has officially rejected the player unions proposal and that they will not offer a counter proposal.

It looks more and more likely that baseball in 2020 will look nothing like the baseball that we are used to seeing, if we even get it at all. Joel Sherman of the New York Post says that he has heard "greater pessismism today from folks on both sides about MLB launching a season than at any point,"
At this point the blame has to lie with the owners, the players offer was maybe a bit too strong with 114 games along with full pro-rated salaries, but a 50-game baseball season is not a reasonable proposal and is just comical, especially when it comes to refusing to pay a pro-rated portion of the salaries while refusing to open up their financial books to the players.

It's especially frustrating considering the NBA's plan to return is all but officially voted on, and the NHL has their general framework for a resumption of play. Meanwhile the baseball owners continue to try and force a proposal that has left the players and the fans pissed off.

The players have made their proposal

Days after Major League Baseball made their 'non-starter" proposal to the Major League Baseballs Players Association (MLBPA) the union has offered a counter proposal according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.

In the proposal the players want a 114-game season that will go from June 30 to October 31. at-risk players will have the opportunity to sit out while retaining their full salary, and any player can sit out and still earn service time. Part of the financial aspect of the proposal include $100 million paid to players upfront during Spring Training, and the potential deferral of salaries if the postseason is cancelled. The deal would also include two years of expanded playoffs.

Jon Herman of MLB Network adds in that players would receive 70 percent of their salary instead of the prorated 51 percent they would've received during an 82 game season under MLBs proposal.

Obviously there is still a long ways to go, but this is a big sign of progress considering some players didn't even want to offer a counter-proposal based on how poorly they received the initial offer.

Cubs release a large group of minor leaguers

In an extremely disappointing move the Chicago Cubs have released 28 minor league players according to JJ Cooper of Baseball America. Although this was expected, it is disappointing to see several players careers likely ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is a chunk of recognizable names on the list, Oscar De La Cruz was at one point a top Cubs pitching prospect, Brock Stewart was the Cubs Rule V draft pick, Jake Stinnett was a former second round pick, and Carlos Asuaje was a potential depth option.

The majority of these players likely had no shot at being major contributors to the big league roster either this season or in future seasons, but that doesn't change the fact that it reflects poorly on the Ricketts family and is yet another dark spot on their ownership.

Dayton Moore, the GM of the Kansas City Royals (a small market team by the way) said "..They're growing the game constantly because they're so passionate about it. So we felt it was really, really important not to release one minor league player during this time, a time we needed to stand behind them,"

It's not just the Cubs doing this, and they're definitely not the worst offenders, the Oakland A's are not paying any of their minor leaguers after May 31st.

This is such a disappointing time to be a baseball fan, the owners and MLB have made it clear time and time again that they do not care about the players or the fans and only care about the money, and at this point I would be surprised if their is a baseball season due to their greed.