Top News:
Jeff Passan / ESPN:
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred now less confident about 2020 season — Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN on Monday he's “not confident” there will be a 2020 baseball season and that “as long as there's no dialogue” with the MLB Players Association, “that real risk is going to continue.”
Discussion:
MLB Trade Rumors and New York Post
RELATED:
Jeff Passan / ESPN:
MLB players reject latest offer, ask league to set 2020 season schedule — The Major League Baseball Players Association asked MLB to set a schedule for the 2020 season rather than counter the latest return-to-play proposal by the league, setting the stage for MLB to implement …
Discussion:
Viva El Birdos, MLB Baseball News … and Purple Row
The Athletic:
MLB's latest proposal to players comes with sharply worded letter marking ill will
Discussion:
True Blue LA, MLB Trade Rumors, NBCSports.com, FanGraphs Baseball, Halos Heaven, Talking Chop and Lone Star Ball
Andrew Marchand / New York Post:
MLB lands billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports to broadcast playoffs — While MLB and the Players Association squabble over money and the 2020 season, the league has consummated a new billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports to keep a playoff package that includes one of the league championship series …
Discussion:
USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Sun-Times, The Good Phight, MLB Baseball News …, Arizona Sports and NBCSports.com
RELATED:
ESPN:
Source: MLB reaches billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports to air playoff games — Major League Baseball has reached a billion-dollar deal with Turner Sports, giving the broadcast company continued rights to air playoff games, a source confirmed to ESPN. — The exact value and length of the new contract were not immediately known.
Discussion:
Talking Chop
Buster Olney / ESPN:
How shortsighted greed is tearing baseball apart — What we'll call the Jeff Luhnow mentality could be defined as the absolute devotion to gleaning every fragment of advantage, every bit of efficiency, regardless of whether you might drift beyond the bounds of common sense.
Discussion:
MLB Baseball News …, New York Post and Bleed Cubbie Blue
RELATED:
MLB Insiders / ESPN:
‘Long Gone Summer’ roundtable: How we remember Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and HR race of '98 — What was your favorite memory of the 1998 home run race? — Jesse Rogers: The month of June was really unreal. Sosa hit 20 home runs in the month, which was unheard of back then. That month really began the race.
Discussion:
MLB Baseball News … and The Good Phight
Evan Drellich / The Athletic:
Judge orders 2017 MLB letter to Yankees unsealed; plaintiffs say it details sign stealing — A New York judge ruled on Friday that a letter sent by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred to the Yankees addressing the findings of a 2017 investigation into the team should be unsealed.
RELATED:
Baseball America:
2020 MLB Undrafted Free Agent Tracker: Agreements For All 30 Teams — The shortest June draft in MLB history has concluded after just five rounds, meaning a bevy of qualified draft-eligible players remain. We are tracking all agreements made below. — Remember, players can sign for up to $20,000 …
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
With 2020 negotiations stalled, MLB ponders the next move — Baseball union chief Tony Clark told Major League Baseball on Saturday to let the players know when and where to show up for work. — The wait continues. — MLB owners huddled Monday on a conference call and decided that they'll …
Discussion:
MLB Trade Rumors
Kiley McDaniel / ESPN:
MLB tells teams scouting activities can resume, source says — Major League Baseball informed clubs on Monday that they can resume scouting activities, ending the ban that was instituted on March 19 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a source told ESPN. — There is a limit of three scouts per MLB club …
Discussion:
MLB Baseball News …, Associated Press, Red Reporter and Gaslamp Ball
Josh Norris / Baseball America:
MLB Teams Get Creative With College Money To Lure UDFAs — The coronavirus pandemic changed many things about this year's draft. Most notably, it shortened it from 40 rounds to just five. All but $100,000 of players' signing bonuses were deferred over the next two years as well …
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball
Tim Healey / Newsday:
Undrafted free agency a whole new ballgame for Mets — Pushed by the pandemic, MLB owners drastically altered the MLB Draft, a critical source of talent for every team, so they could pinch proverbial pennies. The draft came and went, five rounds Wednesday and Thursday nights …
