NEWSLETTER
In addition to expecting/dreading additional positive tests when there’s a new outbreak like the one currently in the Cardinals organization, you expect more players to consider opting out of this season. And you can’t blame anyone who at first felt all right proceeding, and now prefers not to.
To that end, Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain is opting out:
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 1, 2020
The Brewers are currently shut down, not by virtue of their own positive tests, but because they were due to be playing the Cardinals right now. So if and when the Brewers resume, Cain will not be there.
Cain, 34, was in the third year of his five-year deal with the Brewers, with an annual salary this year of $16 million. He’ll forgo any further salary this year beyond the one week accrued of prorated pay, and then he’ll have two years left on his deal starting next year.
We’ll see if others follow Cain in the coming days.
(For established veterans on long-term deals, the opt-out decision becomes a little less difficult, based on what we read in the March Agreement. In short, if the season is cancelled, the players get only prorated pay anyway, so if the season gets cancelled this week, Cain didn’t really lose much by opting out. For younger players, the decision is more difficult, because you DO risk extra service time by opting out before the season is cancelled.)
