Players opting out of 2020 season

[Philip]

36 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Yes.  They're paying him nothing.  If he had played he would have gotten 60/162 of his salary.

Guess I don't get why that is a reason for the owners to be "really motivated to not have a season".

Sure, not having a season would save the paying salaries.  What does that have to do with there being a season but a few players deciding to sit out?

 Because if we play, there will be, (at least I think that’s the plan now) no fans in the seats, which means the only revenue the team owners will be getting will be whatever advertising revenue they get. They won’t get any ticket sales, merchandise sales, concession sales, parking fees, etc. etc. etc. and given how much money some players make, owners would probably be better off if there were no baseball at all.

[SteveA]

27 minutes ago, Philip said:

 Because if we play, there will be, (at least I think that’s the plan now) no fans in the seats, which means the only revenue the team owners will be getting will be whatever advertising revenue they get. They won’t get any ticket sales, merchandise sales, concession sales, parking fees, etc. etc. etc. and given how much money some players make, owners would probably be better off if there were no baseball at all.

Oh yeah, we've known that all along.  That's why the owners wanted to make the season as short as possible.  The networks pay most of their national TV money so they can have the postseason rights.  Short season and a postseason, or no season at all, is best for the owners and has been all along.

I just didn't get the connection you seemed to be making to a discussion of a small # of players opting out or not.

[Philip]

5 minutes ago, SteveA said:

Oh yeah, we've known that all along.  That's why the owners wanted to make the season as short as possible.  The networks pay most of their national TV money so they can have the postseason rights.  Short season and a postseason, or no season at all, is best for the owners and has been all along.

I just didn't get the connection you seemed to be making to a discussion of a small # of players opting out or not.

Oh I was just pointing out the David price opting out was a benefit for the owners. I guess everybody already knew that. But I think when all is said and done the less expensive guys are going to play. The pre-arbitration guys are going to play, and the-comparatively-old guys on league minimum contracts are going to play,  but I would imagine that a large number of high dollar guys aren’t. I still have my doubts about whether we will play, but we shall see 

[atomic]

3 hours ago, Philip said:

This is probably been covered elsewhere, but if a player voluntarily ops out, that means he does not get paid for the season correct? And if that’s true, then David Price opting out just saved the Red Sox between 20 and $30 million? Well, the Red Sox or whoever he’s playing with these days, I forget.

He plays for Dodgers but Red Sox pay half his salary.   

[survivedc]

2 hours ago, Philip said:

Oh I was just pointing out the David price opting out was a benefit for the owners. I guess everybody already knew that. But I think when all is said and done the less expensive guys are going to play. The pre-arbitration guys are going to play, and the-comparatively-old guys on league minimum contracts are going to play,  but I would imagine that a large number of high dollar guys aren’t. I still have my doubts about whether we will play, but we shall see 

Why would a large number of the high dollar guys not play? My understanding is players get a year of service time whether they play or not.

[SteveA]

Felix Hernandez opts out of the season.  He was on a minor league contract with the Braves but was probably going to make the team.

[Just Regular]

8 hours ago, SteveA said:

Felix Hernandez opts out of the season.  He was on a minor league contract with the Braves but was probably going to make the team.

Another one with career earnings in the high eight or nine figures.  Unlike Price, Felix has the ring to chase, but I think he knows that ship has very likely sailed for him.  I imagine Price will have some fence mending to do in that clubhouse next year, if he doesn't get preemptively moved along.  

[weams]

16 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

Another one with career earnings in the high eight or nine figures.  Unlike Price, Felix has the ring to chase, but I think he knows that ship has very likely sailed for him.  I imagine Price will have some fence mending to do in that clubhouse next year, if he doesn't get preemptively moved along.  

He paid the minor leaguers.

[atomic]

17 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

Another one with career earnings in the high eight or nine figures.  Unlike Price, Felix has the ring to chase, but I think he knows that ship has very likely sailed for him.  I imagine Price will have some fence mending to do in that clubhouse next year, if he doesn't get preemptively moved along.  

What fence mending would he need to do?  He hasn’t even played with the Dodgers yet. I don’t think any other players would be upset with a player skipping this season.  He is giving up $12 million dollars. 

[backwardsk]

2 minutes ago, atomic said:

What fence mending would he need to do?  He hasn’t even played with the Dodgers yet. I don’t think any other players would be upset with a player skipping this season.  He is giving up $12 million dollars. 

He also gave 200k+ to pay the Dodgers minor leaguers.

[Aristotelian]

11 hours ago, survivedc said:

Why would a large number of the high dollar guys not play? My understanding is players get a year of service time whether they play or not.

Extreme high dollar guys like Price don't need another $10M when they have already made $200M. I saw some quotes from Trout suggesting he is on the fence. 

[Philip]

11 hours ago, survivedc said:

Why would a large number of the high dollar guys not play? My understanding is players get a year of service time whether they play or not.

You would have to ask them their reasoning, but on the outside looking in, if they’ve already got plenty of money, why exert themselves and take the risk, which is very real, for a fractional season that will always have an asterisk on it, even if a team wins the World Series. Yes, Price will be losing ~ $20 million, Trout a bit more, But haven’t they reached the point where it’s just numbers? 

The younger guys have tremendous incentive to play, because they are playing for future opportunities.

jmho

[Aristotelian]

On 7/3/2020 at 5:10 PM, spiritof66 said:

I'm wondering about umpires, many of whom are in their 50s and 60s. Some don't look to be in top-top shape, to put it mildly. During the course of a game, the home plate umpire will be in close range of more people than any player. (They should be thankful Earl isn't around.)

Can umpires opt out of the season? If enough of them do, or test positive, to run through the MLB umpires, what happens? Call up AAA umpires? Go with crews of three?

Another advantage to electronic umpires: they may get viruses, but they won't be contagious.

Never thought of computer viruses for Robo imps. I bet the Astros already have guys on this.

[atomic]

19 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Extreme high dollar guys like Price don't need another $10M when they have already made $200M. I saw some quotes from Trout suggesting he is on the fence. 

Weird for a guy who posted just tell us when on Twitter.  Anyone who posted that better play. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, OrioleDog said:

Another one with career earnings in the high eight or nine figures.  Unlike Price, Felix has the ring to chase, but I think he knows that ship has very likely sailed for him.  I imagine Price will have some fence mending to do in that clubhouse next year, if he doesn't get preemptively moved along.  

My guess is that most players will feel this is a personal decision that each player must make for himself, and that they won’t hold any hard feelings against those who made a different decision than they did.