Andrew McCutchen’s one-word response to owners’ latest MLB season proposal is depressing

Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen is not impressed with the league’s new 2020 season plan.

What a difference a month makes. In short order, Major League Baseball has gone from appearing poised to lock in a plan to begin the 2020 season to teetering dangerously close to staging zero baseball whatsoever. The owners and the MLBPA have gone back and forth with a series of proposed roadmaps that have been consistently panned as non-starters, and the league’s newest pitch feels like more of the same.

Just ask Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who very much appears to be laughing on Twitter to keep from crying.

Andrew McCutchen’s blunt reaction to the MLB’s new proposal the 2020 season proves just how rough these negotiations truly are

Yikes.

Among the hottest points of contention is these protracted talks? The length of the regular season — there’s no way 162 games can be played — and adjustments to player salaries in light of a shortened campaign and a lack of fans paying at the gate. This latest plan, per MLB insider Jeff Passan, includes a 76-game regular season. Players would earn $989 million in regular season salary and an additional $443 million if the postseason is played. This is in contrast to the league’s very first offer, which would have paid out just over $1 billion for an 82-game season, plus another $200M for the playoffs.

So, how does the MLBPA feel about these new numbers?

If this all sounds like baseball is moving backwards, that’s because it is.

Andrew McCutchen isn’t just some rank-and-file guy; he’s a former National League MVP. To hear him dismissing what needed to be a serious, workable blueprint for a 2020 season is troubling, and speaks to the sheer extent to which the league just isn’t negotiating with the players in good faith.

At this rate, we might just have to entertain the possibility of a “break glass in case of emergency” 48-game season. Whatever that would end up looking like, it wouldn’t be baseball as we know it.