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.

Cubs-Cardinals London Series cancelled

The MLB announced today that it is cancelling the two game series between the Cubs and Cardinals scheduled for June 13-14 in London. Although it had been anticipated for a while due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, it's still disappointing to see it become a reality.

With it becoming increasingly likely that the season will not be getting started until July, and the fact that there is no definite end date to the social distancing guidelines the series cancellation was a foregone conclusion. Obviously it's possible to try again next year, but that remains to be seen.

The Cubs haven't played an international series since they opened the 2000 season against the Mets at the Tokyo Dome. It would've been nice to see them play the second ever London series, but it just was not going to be possible at this point.

Cubs send Jhonny Pereda to Red Sox

The Cubs traded 23-year old catcher Jhonny Pereda to the Boston Red Sox in order to complete the January 21st trade that sent Travis Lakins to the Cubs.

Pereda spent all of last season in AA Tennessee hitting .241/.336/.305 in 98 games and 398 plate appearances. Not much of a hitter, he is much more known for his defense as he won the minor league Gold Glove for catching in part thanks to him throwing out 33% of attempted base stealers.

It was hard to project him as a hitter, as he showed excellent bat control with a 12.3% walk rate and a 13.8% strikeout rate, but he hit for absolutely zero power with a .064 ISO and a 53.7% ground ball rate.

Lakins spent just 10 days in the Cubs organization before being claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles so it's disappointing to see the Cubs give up a potential elite defensive catcher for a pitcher who will never throw a pitch for the Cubs.

No baseball for at least eight more weeks

Major League Baseball released a statement saying that "Following last night's newly updated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) restricting events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, the opening of the 2020 regular season will be pushed back in according with that guidance,"

Eight weeks would push the regular season starting in May at the absolute earliest, and with recent reports that seems to be extremely optimistic. Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports says  that several GMs are bracing for a delay as "late as July,"

It seems extremely unlikely that playing 162 games is a remote possibility at this point. If the season were to start in July it would take the season into early 2021 It's impossible to speculate until we get a much clearer picture of the timeline of everything, but a shortened season is an inevitability at this point.

You can also basically throw all season expectations for players and teams out the window. This type of scenario is completely unprecedented for all of sports, not just baseball. It's impossible to know how a long layoff starting right in the middle of Spring Training will effect players.

Major League Baseball expected to announce suspension of Spring Training

As a result of the the growing panic surrounding the Coroniavirus, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that there is a "feeling of inevitability among executives that Major League Baseball will be suspending spring training as soon as today,"

This comes as a response to the NBA suspending their season after Utah Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for the Coronavirus. The MLS and NHL have also suspended operations and several college basketball conference tournaments have been cancelled.

It is clear that the MLB season will not be starting on time, but it is unknown how much it will be impacted by. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he could see NBA games being played in August so this isn't expected to be a short term thing.

It's hard to speculate until the MLB announces their plan on it. This type of situation is unprecedented and there are so many moving parts associated with this, including stadium availability and how little is known about the virus still.

Cubs cut five pitchers

The Cubs trimmed their relief corps and dropped their Spring Training roster to 39 when they cut five pitchers today.

The only player that was cut that had a shot at making the roster was RHP James Norwood, but after getting roughed up in the Spring with a 6.75 ERA in six appearances with six strikeouts to four walks, he was optioned to AAA.

Norwood has always had good stuff with a fastball that averaged 96.3 MPH, but he has struggled to throw strikes consistently including eight walks in nine and a third innings pitched at the big league level last year. He will most likely see big league action at some point in the season, but as of now he will try and throw strikes consistently out of the Iowa bullpen.

Danny Hultzen was a nice story for the Cubs last season after finally making his major league debut eight years after he was drafted due to his injury history. He responded well by not allowing a run in six appearances. The 30-year old lefty will most likely try to build a case for the big league bullpen in Iowa and very well could play a role at the MLB level this year.

RHP Ben Taylor and his beautiful mustache was brought in on a minor league deal and although he pitched well in his four Spring appearances with a 2.25 ERA and five strikeouts in four innings, he was never considered a serious threat to make the big league roster. The 27-year does have some big league experience with a 5.40 ERA in 20 games in parts of two seasons with the Red Sox and Indians. He could be a good depth piece, but pitchers like him are generally a dime a dozen.

Dakota Mekkes was at one point considered the Cubs best relief prospect, but his stock has taken a hit after a rough season in the hitter-inflated PCL. He didn't help his case in Spring Training either as he allowed five earned runs in five and a third innings with eight strikeouts to six walks. His issue with walks has always been known as he walked 34 in 49.1 innings for Iowa, he still has some work to do but he can absolutely be an asset for the big league bullpen if he can throw more strikes.

LHP Wyatt Short was never serious threat to win a spot on the big league roster, but it was nice to see him get some exposure to Cubs fans. He pitched well in the Spring allowing just two runs in six innings but walked four while striking out just three. He had an excellent season out of the Tennessee bullpen last year so it's possible he could open the season for Iowa, but that remains to be seen.