The outlook for an MLB season looks bleak at the moment, but Yankees president Randy Levine is optimistic for a 2020 season – if the two sides can get back to the negotiating table.
“So what I believe needs to happen is that the parties need to get together as soon as possible to resolve those issues so we can get the season going,” he said in a statement on Tuesday, per The Associated Press. ”All 30 clubs want to play. The commissioner wants to play. The players want to play. So let’s get these issues solved so we can begin playing baseball.
“The March agreement said the players would negotiate these issues. The commissioner has assured me he’s ready to do so. The players should get in a room and start negotiating so we can get going.”
The players drew a line in the sand over the weekend that any further negotiating would be “futile” after the owners proposed a 72-game season at 75 percent prorated salary.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has the ability to mandate the season from the March 26 agreement, and the players have since requested he set the schedule and let them know when and where they would play.
On Monday, Manfred cast doubt over whether or not he would do so when he said he was “not confident” in a season – a change of tone after he said he was “100 percent” confident last Wednesday.
Many players believe this is a stall tactic in order to create fewer games where the owners would have to pay a full pro-rated salary.
However, Levine believes "the holdup is not about the number of games or money at this time."
“The holdup, as I understand it, is about resolving the other items in the March 26 agreement,” he said. “They include final agreement on all of the health and safety protocols, deciding what happens if a season is interrupted by a second wave of the virus, which players can opt out and under what circumstances can they, and a host of issues like that.”