Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer, among eight players on the Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive subcommittee, issued a statement late Wednesday night calling management’s proposal for more salary cuts a non-starter.
“After discussing the latest developments with the rest of the players there’s no need to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions,” he wrote on Twitter.
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) May 28, 2020
The MLBPA plans to send a proposal with economic terms to Major League Baseball by the end of the week, sources familiar with the discussion told ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and as Scherzer noted, the players do not plan to make any salary concessions.
Scherzer is among several players to weigh in publicly on MLB’s long-awaited proposal to restart the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, one that calls for a significant cut in salaries that would affect all players and particularly the game’s highest paid.
The league’s proposal, which includes bonuses if postseason games are played, offers lower-salaried players a higher percentage of their expected wages and would give some of the game’s biggest stars a fractional cut of their salaries. The formula the league offered, for example, would take a player scheduled to make the league minimum ($563,500), give him a prorated number based on an 82-game schedule ($285,228) and take a 10% cut from that figure, leaving him with a $256,706 salary.
The players’ association, in a statement Tuesday, said it was “extremely disappointed” by the proposal. It has argued players already accepted a cut to prorated shares of their salaries in a March 26 agreement and should not have to bargain again.
“We have previously negotiated a pay cut in the version of prorated salaries, and there’s no justification to accept a 2nd pay cut based upon the current information the union has received,” Scherzer wrote. “I’m glad to hear other players voicing the same viewpoint and believe MLB’s economic strategy would completely change if all documentation were to become public information.”
New York Mets starter Marcus Stroman and Milwaukee Brewers left-hander Brett Anderson were among the players to criticize the proposal on social media Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
