(670 The Score) Cubs outfielder Ian Happ is preparing to soon leave his "compound" in Arizona and return to Chicago, still hopeful there will be a baseball season in 2020.
"There's baseball on the horizon somewhere," Happ said on the Dan Bernstein Show on Thursday. "Nobody knows when that's going to be."
That's because MLB owners and players are at a stalemate in their return-to-play negotiations. The league recently rejected the union's proposal that called for 114 games with full prorated salaries and informed the players that it wouldn't make a counterproposal, creating more uncertainty as the clock continues to tick.
"It's always positive when both sides are talking," said Happ, a player representative for the Cubs. "I think the proposal the players sent over was very comprehensive. It covered so many of the topics that MLB has an issue with. It was very disappointing to hear a straight rejection from them and not a counterproposal.
"It's tough when players are saying, 'Hey, we want to play as much baseball as possible. We want to get ourselves back by the end of June, we want to play, and we want to give it to the fans. We want to make sure that there's baseball on TV to watch and we want to get to a point where hopefully we can have people in the stands by the end of the year.'
"To have that approach met by, 'No, thank you. We're OK,' that was very difficult to hear. That was the first time I think during the negotiations that I was very, very disappointed. I'm just hoping we can do something, figure something out, to get both sides on the same page and get baseball back.
"The players want to be back, and we just want to make sure there's baseball on TV for the fans."
Despite his disappointment in the owners' stance, Happ maintains a positive relationship with Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts.
"The Ricketts family and Mr. Ricketts have done such an unbelievable job with Wrigley Field, with the renovations, with everything around the ballpark," he said. "They've given us as players every single resource we could ever ask for. They've put a wonderful product on the field, for years and years. And they've had one of the highest payrolls in baseball.
"I can never, ever fault Mr. Ricketts for anything they've done with the Cubs. They've done an absolutely wonderful job. And we do have a great relationship, and I think it's important that people know that's real.
"At the same time, we want what's best for baseball coming back. We want as many games as possible, as players."
