NEW YORK -- Baseball players told Major League Baseball additional talks to start the season during the coronavirus pandemic are pointless and said owners should order a return to work, which likely would spark lengthy litigation and the sport's return to labor wars.
The union's action Saturday night could lead to a season of about 50 games rather than the 82 initially proposed by MLB. The Major League Baseball Players Association could respond by filing a grievance that would be heard by arbitrator Mark Irvings, arguing players are owed hundreds of millions of dollars in damages due to a shorter season.
"It unfortunately appears that further dialogue with the league would be futile," union head Tony Clark said in a statement. "It's time to get back to work. Tell us when and where."
There was no immediate response from MLB.
While the NBA, NHL and MLS have figured out deals to return in this summer of the coronavirus, baseball has descended into the fractious labor strife that led to eight work stoppages from 1972-95. The union has seethed followed a collective bargaining agreement in late 2016 that led to relatively flat salaries for five consecutive years, an unsuccessful grievance accusing the Chicago Cubs of manipulating third baseman Kris Bryant's service time to delay his eligibility for free agency, and a grievance accusing teams of improperly using revenue-sharing proceeds, a process the union calls "tanking."
Players and MLB agreed to a deal March 26 calling for prorated salaries, a deal that included $170 million in salary advances and a guarantee of service time for 2020 even if no games are played.
That deal gave baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred the right to start the season provided there were no travel restrictions and games could be played before fans in regular-season ballparks. It called for "good faith" negotiations to play in empty ballparks or neutral sites.
Players insist they should not have to accept additional cuts.
"Players want to play. It's who we are and what we do," Clark said. "Since March, the association has made it clear that our No. 1 focus is playing the fullest season possible, as soon as possible, as safely as possible. Players agreed to billions in monetary concessions as a means to that end, and in the face of repeated media leaks and misdirection we made additional proposals to inject new revenues into the industry -- proposals that would benefit the owners, players, broadcast partners and fans alike. It's now become apparent that these efforts have fallen upon deaf ears."
Owners must now decide whether to go ahead with a shortened schedule of perhaps 48 or 50 games. A 50-game regular season at prorated salaries would total $1.23 billion, leaving the union to claim about $1 billion plus interest in damages should the case continue to a decision and players prevail.
