Tuesday’s sliding-scale pay proposal by Major League Baseball to its players took off about as well as the Spruce Goose, though even that might be an optimistic comparison. By penalizing the highest-paid players most harshly, holding the top three tiers to what amounts to less than a quarter of their full-season salaries, the owners ensured the rejection of their plan.
Even with the addition of a $200 million playoff bonus pool, most of which would be earmarked for the players at the high end of the salary scale, the departure from full prorated pay was too much.