Rob Manfred Blasted By Chicago Cubs Players After Saying He’s ‘Not Confident’ There Will Be A 2020 Season
After MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on M0nday that “he’s not confident” there will be a baseball season this summer, several Chicago Cubs players took to social media to voice their displeasure. Tim Stebbins of NBC Chicago wrote that Yu Darvish, Willson Contreras, and Anthony Rizzo were among the players that responded to the commissioner’s comments on Twitter.
Contreras called the prospect of there being no 2020 season a joke. Meanwhile, Rizzo didn’t go after Manfred directly but said that the players were ready to get going on the season. He told Manfred they just needed to be instructed on when and where.
New Cubs second baseman Jason Kipnis tweeted at NBA commissioner Adam Silver asking if he has “up.” Stebbins thought Kipnis’ comments were aimed at Silver because the NBA has had relative labor peace. The league has also managed to work out how to finish its 2019-2020 season. Though, as The Inquisitr previously reported, there are some NBA players who are now talking about canceling the season because of social injustice, as well as fears surrounding a second coronavirus wave.
Another of the newest Cubs, Steven Souza, took to social media to ask if the league could bring back Bud Selig. Selig was Manfred’s immediate predecessor but labor relations between the owners, commissioner, and the Major League Baseball Player’s Union weren’t all good when he was in charge of the league either. Selig once had to cancel the postseason and World Series because the two sides couldn’t agree on a collective bargaining agreement.
— ???????(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) June 15, 2020
Darvish responded to a tweet with Manfred’s comment that he wasn’t certain that a season will take place with a picture of fried chicken. Stebbins thought the meaning of the picture was evident.
All of the Cubs’ reactions came after talks seemingly broke down between the owners and players about how to stage the 2020 season. The coronavirus pandemic caused the league to shut down in the middle of spring training and the players and owners have reportedly been negotiating ever since on how and when to come back. They did reach an agreement in March on a preliminary deal but the owners have reportedly wanted to return to the table to renegotiate how much players will be paid in a shortened season.
Both sides made several offers with the players always asking for 100 percent of their prorated salaries over several different lengths of the season. The owners repeatedly countered with their own offers, though they never reportedly offered 100 percent prorated salaries. Over the weekend, the player’s union told the owners more discussions were a waste of time, leading to Manfred’s announcement.
