The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Brian Bogusevic on MLB Negotiations From Players Side

Episode Date: June 9, 2020

Brian Bogusevic on MLB Negotiations From Players Side

At home, say, Alexa, play Sports Talk 790 on I-Hard Radio. Welcome back, Sports Talk, 790. Joe George, Ross Virial, with you. And right now we are pleased to be joined by Major League Baseball Veteran and AT&T Sports Net Southwest broadcaster. Brian Bogus Sevik, Brian, we appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing well.

How are you guys? Pretty good, man. All right. So let's get right into it. So the negotiations, obviously, on. ongoing. Just from where you sit, let's start with a public perception and we can get more into it. Where do you think people feel more of the blame is right now? Do you think it's more players, more owners, or more split in the public eye? I honestly think that it's pretty

split. I think traditionally blame falls on the players just because from a fans' perspective, that's who they sort of relate to more. But I think in this case, it's sort of just baseball in general that's taking the hit on it. And I think, you know, as difficult as it is to watch, you know, billionaires and millionaires, you know, have discussions about how they're going to divide up money isn't fun to see. Baseball's been the victim of circumstance here in terms of them versus other sports just on the timing of it. You know, it was right at the start of the season. and they have all of, you know, 162 games lost that they're trying to make up for.

So there's just so much more for the sport of baseball to have to wade through versus what basketball and hockey are doing or what football is sort of sitting in the weeds, hoping they don't have to deal with. That it's just, I mean, baseball is in a tough spot, and I think they're all taking the hit. All right, and let's talk about, like, from a personal standpoint of the players. Like, have you really thought about putting yourself in this position? What do you think, I mean, what would your mindset, be right now. If you're kind of just sitting there, I know you obviously love baseball and you want to

play and you want to get out there, but you just can't right now. What do you think is going through the mind of a typical player right now? Yeah, I think first and foremost, you hit it on the head that everybody wants to play. Nobody's sitting there saying, oh, hey, it's pretty nice to be home in June. I really don't want to go back out there and do what I've been doing my entire life and love to do. Like, nobody should be mistaken in thinking that guys don't want to get out there and play. But, I mean, this is, this is part of the deal. It's a business as, you know, more than it's a game. And when you get down to it, you've got to do things the right way. And you've got to do things that not only benefit the players now, but the players in the future, you can't set precedents

that are going to be taken advantage of in the future. So, you know, these guys are doing some things that they don't necessarily want to be doing because I think that the initial agreement that the players made, it was pretty obvious that they were saying, hey, we'll make some concessions off the bat. Let's just do what needs to be done to get the games going again. And it's pretty obvious that that's what the players want. They're just not in a position that they're allowed to do that right now. What's the long-term ramification of this with the collective bargaining agreement coming up just here in like a year and a half? What's the long-term picture and problems baseball could have from this? Well, I think first of all, there's going to be

a lasting bitterness on the player's side. The relationship between ownership and players association has been strained for a while. That isn't news to anybody. But I think that the players kind of went into the whole negotiation right now with the mindset of this is a one-off, right? This whole pandemic was unforeseen. We've got to just do what we can do to keep everything afloat for a while. And the fact that they've now been met with business as usual from the owner's side and the owner's trying to, you know, more or less win the negotiation as opposed to just help everybody survive. I think it's going to strain it even more.

And even if we can get through this and work through this, I think it's going when it comes time to renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement, there's going to be a lasting, bitter taste in the player's mouth from the way this whole thing shakes out. Talk with Brian Bogusevic here on The Matt Thomas Show. And Brian, just, I mean, put yourself in the spot of negotiating on the player's side. So the owners have said, hey, 50-50 split, players say we're not coming off pro-ration. Sliding scale, we're not coming off pro-ration. Okay, 75% proration. We're not coming off pro-ration. I mean, so they have all these deals on the table.

What is the next move for the players? Are they just not going to move off of that stance at any point? Yeah, I think they're going to hold the line. First of all, the three different options that have been presented to them, even though they're different pay structures, they also come with different amounts of games, which more or less, which amounts to about the same amount of money being paid out. So it's really, it's six, it's half a dozen, and then it's three and three for the players. and just sort of the way it's been presented to them where there's not a whole lot of progress being made. I think they're just at a point where they're going to dig in. And they said, you know, they made their concession.

They're not the owners of the team. It's not their risk to be absorbed. That's kind of the deal that goes along with being an owner of any business. When business is great, you reap the rewards. When business is bad, it's kind of, you know, part of the deal. You absorb that. And the players, you know, they didn't have to agree to that. initial pro-rated salary. They could have tried to play hardball and say the season is what the

season is and we need to get paid. They didn't do that. They came to the table with a pretty moderate view and say, hey, we're willing to work with you here. And now the owners are turning around and trying to change that on them. So I think where they're at right now, they want, you know, around half a season's worth of games and a full pro-rated pay scale. And I can't see them coming off of that. And honestly, I think it's a pretty reasonable ask on their part. They don't get to come back when business is good and say, hey, we want to bump in everybody's salary.

We want bonuses because, you know, the TV deals went up and attendance was up. So why should they be the one to also absorb the risk? That's what ownership does. If Rob Manfred implements the 48 game season, how do you just do you view it? If they play 48 to 60 games, is this a legitimate season or is it kind of too gimmicky for you? I think anything less than half a season is at great risk of being seen as an entertaining exhibition that's better than nothing, but nobody's going to remember who the 2020 World Series champion is. I think if you're playing a 48-game season or a 50-something game season, with a short and spring training, so the first 10 or 15 games are going to, you know, more or less be warm-up games. You're going to have teams that aren't very good fluking their way into the playoffs.

It's going to turn out to be akin to who won the last couple world baseball classics or who is the last gold medal baseball team. Who knows? I don't know. I don't really care. I think that's the risk that they're running of crowning a champion that won't be seen as a legitimate champion. And just a quick, I guess, procedural question, Brian. What is the procedure for if baseball, the players union wanted to get something done?

Do the reps just vote on it? Is it the committee that just votes on it? How does something like that get passed through? Well, they have the executive committee who's at the negotiating table, and I believe the way it's been in the past is that it then comes down to the team reps. So there's 30 reps and 30 alternates who vote on it. And I think they bring it to the players and then sort of get a consent. on how they should vote for the team.

That's my understanding of how it's work in the past. Okay, so let's just put you on the spot then. The owners are keep trying to dig in and say 48 games. The players obviously digging in. What is going to happen? Obviously seems like we'll at least have some semblance of a season, but how many games are going to get played and when's something going to get done? So I think from a player's perspective, they're going to hold their position.

They're going to say we want 81, 82 games, and we want the full pro-rate. I don't think they're going to come off of that. So they're going to basically put it on the owners to say, we want full pro-rated salaries, and then the owners are going to, you know, Rob Manfred has the power. In that first agreement, he has the power to dictate how long the season is. I think they're going to put it on him to make that call. I don't think he's going to do 48 games. I think it'll be, I think they'll end up settling pretty close to 80 games at a

full pro-rated salary. The players can probably offer the option to defer money on certain salaries or if a postseason gets held up because of a second wave of outbreak or something. So there will be some option for financial relief, but I don't think anything happens without full pro-rated. And I don't think the owners will unilaterally decide to go with 48. It's just, it's too short. Everybody knows it's too short. And at that point, it's almost, you know, why are you even doing this? Brian Bocosevic here on The Matt Thomas Show, and one more before we get you out, Brian. Just on the safety side, would you think of the opt-out clauses, the full opt-out

or the high-risk opt-out? Do you think there's going to be some kind of language there? And on the player's side, as you as a former player, how much would you want the owners, more concession from the owners, because you are the one putting yourself at risk? Yeah, I think there's going to have to be some sort of opt-out. I mean, you have guys like Carlos Carrasco up in Cleveland who was being treated for leukemia less than 12 months ago. He's obviously at a high risk, and you can't force a guy like that into a situation

that he's not comfortable. So the question isn't if there will be. It's how is it going to be structured? Who can opt out and still get paid? Who can opt out and maybe not get paid, but still a crew service. Those are the questions that have to be answered. I would imagine that guys who are deemed high risk by the medical staffs will have the ability to opt out and still be paid their salary and still be able to accrue service time. The real question that's sort of out there now is what about players who have maybe close family members who are high risk and what options do they have in terms of can they opt out so they don't put their family members at risk and do they get paid?

I don't know how far down the line it'll go. But there certainly will be some sort of ability for players who are high risk to get out. And for the other guys, the guys who are healthy guys who have plead go to help, I think everybody's ready to go. As long as proper precautions are taking, these guys want to get out there. All right, Brian Bogus Sevik here on The Matt Thomas Show. Brian, great stuff as always. Thanks for the time.

And we'll talk to you down the road. All right, guys. Hope to see you guys soon. All right, appreciate it. Yes, I hope. Let's get some games back here, Brian. Yeah, yeah. All right, Brian Bogusevich on the Matt Thomas show.

Going to take a quick break here, good stuff from him if you want to react to any of that. 7132125790. The phone number 7132125790. I like what he said. He thinks 82 games, half of a season. Let's get it going. Hopefully baseball comes back, as we always say sooner rather than later. All right, time for a quick break here on the Matt Thomas show.

Short break here. Don't go anywhere.