Earlier this week, Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitcher Blake Snell stated on Twitch that he will not play this season if his salary is reduced beyond the prorated “guarantee” that was agreed upon with owners in March,

Yesterday, Bryce Harper chimed on on Twitch as well while playing Fortnite with future Phillies All-Star Bryson Stott.

“What did Snell say earlier on his stream, do you know?” Harper asked Stott.

Here’s what Snell said earlier this week: 

“Y’all gotta understand, man, for me to go — for me to take a pay cut is not happening, because the risk is through the roof. No, I gotta get my money. I’m not playing unless I get mine, OK? And that’s just the way it is for me. Like, I’m sorry you guys think differently, but the risk is way the hell higher and the amount of money I’m making is way lower. Why would I think about doing that?”

When the message was relayed, Harper replied: 

“He ain’t lying, he’s speaking the truth bro. I ain’t mad at him. Somebody’s gotta say it, at least he manned up and said it. Good for him. I love Snell, the guy’s a beast. One of the best lefties in the game.”

Relatively generic response from Bryce – which had to be assumed. He did however, show support for Blake Snell in speaking his truth. Understandable.

The 50/50 revenue split in the new MLB proposal was always going to be the biggest hurdle to get past. I wrote about it earlier this week. It’s a tough situation. Ticket prices reportedly bring in $4-5 billion dollars in revenue each year for the MLB.

Personally, I think the MLB should take the hit. The players are out there driving all revenue to begin with. Who’s running Marketing and Public Relations for the MLB? I mean honestly, this is such an easy win.

• MLB: Publicly state that you will take the hit this year and ensure everyone gets paid what they are supposed to.
• Players: Will all be super happy and thankful.
• Fans: Baseball is back.

Seems like a no brainer to me. If not, we’re just going to see more and more people coming out echoing Blake Snell and more players coming out and supporting what he had to say, like Bryce Harper.

We all know how crazy the world is right now. Previously, Mike Trout came out and said he didn’t want to have to leave his wife and newborn to be quarantined and play baseball. Phillies pitcher Zach Wheeler echoed similar thoughts. I’m sure Bryce Harper and a ton of other players will feel the same as well.

MLB needs to eat the cost and get baseball moving.  Not only to have sports back in our lives, but so we can resume contract extensions with JT Realmuto, who’s set to become a free agent after this year.