MLB 2020: Mookie Betts, Yankees Star, Astros Outfielder Would Be Greatly Affected By Canceled Season

Major League Baseball is trying to salvage the 2020 season during the coronavirus pandemic, but obstacles still stand in the way. Team owners and the MLB Players Association must agree upon a new plan to play a condensed schedule, likely without fans in attendance, while adjusting player salaries because of lost revenue.

MLBPA executive Tony Clark scoffed at a proposal for which salaries would be based on this season’s revenue. The owners have offered a 50-50 split between themselves and the players.

“A system that restricts player pay based on revenues is a salary cap, period. This is not the first salary cap proposal our union has received. It probably won’t be the last,” Clark told The Athletic Monday.

“That the league is trying to take advantage of a global health crisis to get what they’ve failed to achieve in the past — and to anonymously negotiate through the media for the last several days — suggests they know exactly how this will be received.

“None of this is beneficial to the process of finding a way for us to safely get back on the field and resume the 2020 season — which continues to be our sole focus.”

Despite optimism that the season could begin in early July, no baseball in 2020 remains a real possibility. Such an outcome would be devastating for the entire league, and a few teams would be negatively affected in a very specific way.

Four of the top-eight finishers in the 2019 AL MVP race are all in the final year of their contract.

Mookie Betts is set to become MLB’s top free agent in the winter. He finished eighth in last season’s MVP voting after winning the award in 2018. If there is no 2020 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers will have traded for Betts for virtually no reason.

The Boston Red Sox traded Betts, pitcher David Price and cash to the Dodgers in exchange for outfielder Alex Verdugo, minor-league shortstop Jeter Downs and minor-league catcher Connor Wong in February.

Betts has hit .301/.374/.519 since reaching the big leagues in 2014. He’ll have plenty of suitors in free agency. Los Angeles could find themselves in the middle of a bidding war for a player that’s never worn a Dodgers’ uniform.

L.A. is the overwhelming favorite in the National League for a potential 2020 season. The New York Yankees and Houston Astros are considered to be the top American League World Series contenders.

Yankees second baseman DJ Lemahieu is in a contract year after finishing fourth in the 2019 AL MVP voting. Astros outfielder George Springer was seventh and is set to become a free agent this year.

Lemahieu is looking to prove that his first season in New York was no fluke. In the first half of a two-year, $24 million contract, Lemahieu hit .327/.375/.518 with a career-high 26 home runs and 102 RBI. He hit three home runs with a 1.011 OPS in nine playoff games, including a two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the ALCS that briefly helped the Yankees stave off elimination

Springer is in line to earn a massive free-agent contract. The outfielder set career-highs in 2019 by hitting .292/.383/.591 with 39 home runs for a third straight All-Star appearance. Springer has averaged 31 homers a season since 2016. He hit .296/.441/.667 with two homers and 4 RBI to win the 2017 World Series MVP award.

Marcus Semien, also in the final year of his contract, finished higher than both Lemahieu and Springer in the 2019 AL MVP race. Receiving more votes than any player but Mike Trout and Alex Bregman, the Oakland Athletics infielder had a breakout campaign.

Semien played all 162 games last season, hitting .285/.369/.522 with 33 home runs and 92 RBI. The 29-year-old had never posted an OPS north of .735 or hit more than 15 homers since making his MLB debut in 2013.

J.T. Realmuto is the best NL player in the final year of his contract, The Philadelphia Phillies catcher hit .275/.328/.493 with 25 home runs in 2019 and finished 14th in the NL MVP race.