A tweet sent out this evening from ESPN’s baseball reporter Jesse Rodgers may have confirmed that baseball is not as close as we thought it would be to making a return in 2020.

Sources: Under MLB proposal to players, a player making $35 mil in 2020 would make about $7.8 mil. A player making 10 mil would get about 2.9 mil and a player making a mil would make $434k.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) May 26, 2020

This is going to be a problem.

I wrote about this when the initial proposal was released and how money will most certainly screw everything up for baseball fans in America.

Key Points: The MLB Proposal to Resume Play

If the reports are true, then of course, the MLBPA was going to shoot down a proposal that drastically cuts into player salaries.

Honestly, it’s a bad look on both sides. There’s blame to be had for both the players and owners.

I blame the owners. MLB team owners should be the ones taking the financial hit in this situation and doing everything possible to bring baseball back.

Team owners clearly want to share the financial loss of a shortened, no fan season. From a business perspective, I can definitely see why. But if that’s the case, they need to also share revenue increases with MLB players when a team is performing well and the stadium is packed during a typical season.

Sure, you can blame the players as well. Bryce Harper spoke in support of Blake Snell after Snell announced on Twitch he would not return and play for a reduced salary. I agree with Harper and Snell. Just think about it. This is their professional careers. I sure as hell wouldn’t work for less than what I was supposed to be making, nor should you, nor should MLB players.

Now we’re deep into union talks of how to make this work. We are far away from a final agreement but this isn’t a good start.

Bleacher Report broke down the salary cuts pretty well below, which comes as an even bigger shock due to the fact that Lebron James does not play in the MLB.

MLB has proposed potential salary cuts for the 2020 season, per @JeffPassan

Could be a drastic decrease:

$35M ➡️ $7.84M
$30M ➡️ $6.95M
$25M ➡️ $6.05M
$20M ➡️ $5.15M
$10M ➡️ $2.95M
$1M ➡️ $434K pic.twitter.com/bjeU33v8kz

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 26, 2020

Baseball could be doomed. We’ll see how it plays out. For now, I’d focus on the NHL and NBA instead of the MLB to save us from sports purgatory.