Cardinal Stars Flaherty, Miller Make Pitches On Stalled MLB Labor Talks

With baseball start-up talks stalled, a pair of pitchers on the same staff have been offering quotes instead of curves.

Andrew Miller, part of an eight-man union subcommittee, and St. Louis Cardinals teammate Jack Flaherty, who finished fourth in last year’s voting for the National League Cy Young Award, made headlines even while negotiators have made little headway this week.

Major League Baseball and the Players Association agreed March 26 that players would be paid a pro-rated portion of their salaries based upon number of games played in a shortened season. But that was before owners insisted additional reductions were needed because games would have to be played without spectators – cutting off a significant source of team revenue.

The game ground to a halt March 12, two weeks before the original Opening Day, because of a highly-contagious and deadly virus called COVID-19. Other sports, plus most businesses, shut down simultaneously.

Medical and political leaders have cleared a path for sports to return with the caveat that social distancing be maintained by both players and support staff.

Baseball has already resumed in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan without fans in the stands. In the United States, however, plans have been set for hockey and basketball to resume stalled season, and for football training camps to follow.

But baseball is in danger of losing the season because labor and management can’t agree on money.

Various plans, including realignment and rules changes, have featured seasons of anywhere from 50 to 114 games, with an 82-game slate – about half the normal schedule – the most likely format if the season starts in July.

Major League Baseball is worried that a second wave of coronavirus could hit in the fall and cancel postseason play, a major revenue source for owners. Since players seem adamant about receiving pro-rated salaries without further reductions, they want to play more games. The clubs, on the other hand, want to play less.

Players have already rejected revenue-sharing as one option and a tier-based salary system that would severely cut the salaries of the best-paid players.

Although baseball history is filled with work stoppages – eight of them between 1972 and 1994 – this is the first time that decisions must include the health and safety of players and their families. Both sides are dealing with the unknown, since it is uncertain if and when the pandemic will stop.

Nor is it certain when the sniping between players and owners will stop.

Flaherty, for his part, fired a shot across the bow of Commissioner Rob Manfred Wednesday, asking in public what kind of a pay cut Manfred would receive – at a time when teams are releasing minor-leaguers and support staff while asking major-leaguers to take significant salary reductions.

The pitcher wrote on Twitter, “They too worried about making more money than about playing more games, worried about cutting minor league players or not paying them to save some money, trying to have [Mike] Trout take a 70 per cent pay cut. You can see what Rob’s “pay cut” is.”

For the record, Manfred imposed an across-the-board pay cut of about 35 per cent to senior staff in mid-April. The commissioner himself was included in the MLB pay reductions.

Flaherty, still bristling from his own contact negotiations, posted his angry Tweet in response to a suggestion by retired big-league pitcher Dontrelle Willis that baseball stage a season of 70-82 games but finish with expanded playoffs.

The 24-year-old Flaherty balked at contract terms from the Cardinals for the second straight spring but had no leverage in negotiations because of insufficient playing time. Since players with less than three years of service time must play for the salary his team offers, the star pitcher had his contract renewed.

He also incurred a $10,000 fine, a penalty the team routinely imposes on players not yet eligible for arbitration who refuse to sign their contracts. The Cardinals erased the surcharge by giving Flaherty a bonus for his strong showing in the 2019 Cy Young Award balloting.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cards use a formula that includes such factors as performance, awards, and All-Star appearances to determine salaries for pre-arbitration players.

Miller, 35, doesn’t have such worries. The 6’7″ lefthanded relief pitcher is a veteran of 14 seasons and has a two-year, $25 million contract that runs through 2021.

As he told CBS Sports, “This pandemic is going to have a profound impact on all of us. We want to play baseball. Players are willing to make sacrifices and surely will to get back on the field. However, we will not sacrifice our principles or the future generations of players to do so.”

“While I’m disappointed in where MLB was starting the discussion, if this is truly about getting the game to our fans, I have confidence we will find common ground. I know that our players will do their part.”

Other players, notably outspoken Cincinnati righthander Trevor Bauer, have also been vocal about the impasse, which has already cost both sides millions of dollars. Players will need at least two weeks of Spring Training II to get ready for a much-delayed Opening Day.