Freddie Freeman, the highest paid Braves player, originally was scheduled to make $22 million this year. That would be reduced to less than $8 million under the MLB owners’ latest proposal, made Monday, to start the pandemic-delayed season.
A previous proposal by the players’ union would have trimmed Freeman’s salary to about $15.5 million, and a previous proposal by the owners would have slashed it to a base of about $4 million before possible postseason bonuses.
» MARK BRADLEY: MLB — as usual — fights over money
Those still-unsettled numbers provide an example of the kind of money that baseball players and owners are fighting over.
As other leagues, including the NBA, NHL and MLS, have announced plans to restart their seasons, MLB continues its customary squabble over money, leaving in doubt when/if the season will begin and, assuming it does, how much of a season will be salvaged in mostly empty stadiums.
We crunched the numbers to see how the various proposals, none of which have yet created traction in negotiations, would affect the Braves’ payroll.
Owners’ latest proposal
MLB owners proposed Monday that teams play 76 regular-season games and that players receive up to 75% of their prorated salaries (in other words, 75% of their daily contracted salary for each game played). There was a significant caveat: The 75% would be reduced to 50% if the postseason isn’t played for any reason, including a second wave of COVID-19.
Still, for purposes of our math, let’s say 76 regular-season games and the postseason are completed and players are paid at 75% pro rata. Under those terms, Braves players would make about $52.4 million, down from a projected $149 million payroll before the pandemic shut down the sport. That comes to 35.2% of their original contracts for a 162-game season.
The five highest-paid Braves’ salaries under this proposal would be first baseman Freeman’s approximately $7.7 million (down from $22 million), starting pitcher Cole Hamels’ $6.3 million (down from $18 million), left fielder Marcell Ozuna’s $6.3 million (down from $18 million), relief pitchers Mark Melancon’s $4.9 million (down from $14 million) and reliever Will Smith’s $4.6 million (down from $13 million).
Owners’ previous proposal
Before making their latest pitch Monday, the owners’ previous proposal was that teams play 82 games and that players take large pay cuts off their prorated salaries based on a sliding scale that called for the higher-paid players to take the largest percentage cuts.
The union said it “resoundingly rejected” that proposal, which the owners have subsequently dropped. But for the record, it would have reduced the Braves’ payroll to about $36 million before postseason bonuses, and Freeman’s base salary would have been cut to $4.15 million.
Union’s proposal
The MLB Players Association proposed last week that teams extend the regular season through October to play 114 regular-season games and that players receive their full prorated salaries for each game played. Under this proposal, the Braves’ player payroll would drop from the projected $149 million for a full 162-game season to about $105 million for 114 games, meaning players would receive 70.4% of their original contract.
The five highest paid Braves under this plan would be Freeman at an adjusted salary of about $15.5 million, Hamels and Ozuna at $12.7 million, Melancon at $9.9 million and Smith at $9.2 million.
This plan was summarily dismissed by the owners, who don’t want the regular season to extend beyond September.
A possible outcome
If a compromise isn’t reached between MLB and its players’ union in the coming days or weeks, a March agreement gives MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred the power to implement a schedule length of his choosing as long as the players are paid their full prorated salaries for each game played. If it comes to that, the owners, via Manfred, are expected to impose a short schedule of around 50 games to hold down payrolls amid revenue losses from fan-less stadiums.
A 50-game schedule at prorated pay would put the Braves’ player payroll at about $46 million, more than $100 million below where it was to have been this season. Each player would receive about 31% of his full-season salary.
That scenario would make Freeman’s salary about $6.8 million, Ozuna’s $5.6 million, shortstop Dansby Swanson’s $972,000 (down from $3.15 million) and outfielder Ronald Acuna’s $310,000 (down from $1 million), just to name a few Braves players.
But where the players and owners land remains to be determined.
