Derek Jeter says all trust has been lost between MLB owners and players. As someone who has been on both sides, I would know.
In addition to postponing the start of the season, COVID-19 put a horrible wedge between the owners and players of the Major Leagues. According to Miami Marlins co-owner and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter, “there is no trust” between the two sides.
Talking about the Marlins program Line driveJeter elaborated:
Earlier tonight: Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter says “There is no trust …” between players and owners. Complete clip. pic.twitter.com/2VqX47dzRA
– Craig Mish (@CraigMish) July 1, 2020
MLB officially began its second round of spring training today. Players arrive at local stadiums or team facilities, despite cases increasing across the country. This is after lengthy negotiations between owners and players that became toxic for money, and commissioner Rob Manfred finally implemented a 60-game season with prorated salaries.
JB take
Derek Jeter is absolutely right. Remember, on March 26, both MLB and the players union agreed to full prorated wages regardless of the length of the season restarted. Then, once it became clear that fans would not be allowed to attend the games, the owners took advantage of the shaky language in the initial deal to renegotiate.
Think about it for a second. During a global pandemic, when all parties were already going to lose money, the owners basically negotiated in bad faith. They stated that these were concerns of a second wave, not to mention also the decrease in income due to lack of fans. However, despite the union’s willingness to play more than 60 games, they insisted on a shorter season.
And Jeter has been on both sides of this argument. He played for almost 20 years, debuting less than a year after the 1994 strike effectively canceled the World Series. How quickly we forget that there was also almost a strike in 2002. Also, think about how publicly upset he was after the 2010 season, when the word got out of his free agency negotiations with the Yankees.
But let’s go back and review Jeter’s words in the clip above. Note that he says some of the work “should have been done behind the scenes.”
Now, think about all the leaks and proposals that occurred during the negotiations. All signs seem to indicate that the owners are responsible. No matter how you turn it, they came back to a deal and mourned poverty during a national crisis. And the public relations battle was fought in the press.
From this writer’s perspective, Derek Jeter just called his fellow owners to make them better. All confidence is lost and hopefully the new CBA negotiations take that first step to repair the fence.
