Commissioner Rob Manfred Fully Anticipates Baseball Returning This Season
On the day Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told a wide swath of the sport's staffers that "I fully anticipate baseball will return this season," more than half the teams in the league pledged to pay baseball operations staffs through at least the end of May, sources familiar with teams' dealings told ESPN.
You read the headline correct, the commissioner of Major League Baseball fully anticipates baseball back in 2020! Now is the commissioner of Major League Baseball a noted buffoon who seem to fuck up everything he touches? Sure is! That being said, I am taking his word here. If he's wrong and they don't play any games this year I can just blame this all on him for getting my hopes up. That's how it works in my brain. I now have my scapegoat.
That being said I'm really starting to get the feeling that it's a matter of when, not if when it comes to the Arizona bio-dome baseball season. There are certainly details to be worked out, but when the other option is you don't play at all this seems to be the move. If we can just ignore what Florida and Georgia are doing and stay on top of our shit for the next month or so we could be hearing about Spring Training 2.0 starting up around maybe Memorial Day. At least that's how I see this playing out. Maybe teams aren't reporting by then, but at the very least we'll know the plan. The next month is CRUCIAL and will tell the story for how the rest of 2021 goes. Unfortunately Passan's article is a lit bit of a tease since Manfred's comments on a potential season are limited to just that first paragraph.
Most of the article has to do with not all teams guaranteeing baseball ops employees be paid through the month of May. That includes managers, coaches, and other baseball ops personnel. He mentions the Yankees, Mets, Nationals, and Dodgers among those that have not came out and guaranteed pay. I mean that's just ridiculous. Pay your employees. You all have plenty of money to go around and this is an incredibly trying time. People need their paychecks. So far 18 of the 30 clubs have agreed to pay through May. That number needs to be 30 out of 30 real soon. The Padres announced they're paying their employees throughout the whole season. Pretty good move if you ask me. Everyone should follow suit.
Hey rich people! Avoid the PR nightmare and pay your employees.
P.S. It just sort of hit me that Memorial Day weekend will not be a thing this year and I am now sad and am going to go eat some ice cream.