The Chicago White Sox and the rest of the MLB are impacted by the MLB-MLBPA deal that addresses the potentials of the pause.
It is obviously no fun that the Chicago White Sox along with the rest of Major League Baseball are on pause due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We all want this thing to go away and hopefully, it will. Of course, if you are reading this you probably think that baseball is pretty sweet. It is a very little thing in terms of importance to the world right now but that doesn’t mean it’s bad to be bummed out that we don’t have sports.
The MLB and MLB Players Association have laid out their new deal that addresses all of the issues that come with pausing a Major League season right before it was about to begin. Jeff Passan of ESPN so brilliantly laid out all of the details on the agreements and what they mean. It has implications on things that are off the field issues like the draft, service time, free agency, contracts, and the schedule.
So, of course, the question here becomes, how does this impact the Chicago White Sox? Well, for one, this team looks like it is going to be good once they do hit the field. The fact that the league seems optimistic that they will play this season is a good thing for the Sox. Them not having a season after all of the hype would be a travesty.
Let’s say that the White Sox do get to play this year and they make the playoffs. There is a chance that the playoffs are played at neutral sites because Chicago is a cold-weather city after the month of October. They also might benefit from a shortened schedule because of the fact that a larger percentage of their schedule will be against the division which means more games against the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals.
If there is no baseball this season, the service time will still apply for the 2020 season. For example, Mookie Betts will still be a free agent free to sign anywhere he wants once the offseason begins whether baseball is played or not. That would mean that the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired him from the Boston Red Sox for no reason and he will never have played a regular-season game for them.
That doesn’t really affect the White Sox too bad because none of their core pieces are in danger of leaving after this year. Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Lucas Giolito, and Jose Abreu amongst others are all signed beyond the 2020 season. They are not in Los Angeles’ shoes with a superstar leaving without playing this year. The White Sox might lose a few players after this year because of it but none with the impact of the previously named players.
The one thing that is for sure is that we need to beat this thing. Once baseball comes back, hopefully, we can start to get back to our normal lives. This is going to affect baseball for a long time after it is over but at least there will be games being played. Hopefully, the White Sox are able to play well with the new rules in place.