Chicago Cubs cut salaries for nonplaying employees, including manager: reports

Two months into the shutdown of the 2020 season, the Cubs have instituted pay cuts throughout the organization, according to multiple reports Wednesday.

Employees in the baseball operations and business operations departments and those with uniform employee contracts (UECs) — which includes manager David Ross and his coaches, scouts, minor-league managers and coaches and other nonplaying personnel — are all affected by the salary reductions.

The percentage of the cuts vary, with higher-salaried employees receiving cuts of up to 35 percent, the Chicago Tribune reported, while the majority of the cuts are 20 percent or lower.

Baseball operations president Theo Epstein and business operations president Crane Kenney are at the high end and already had their salaries reduced before the latest action.

Cubs employees have been told there will be no furloughs at least through June. ESPN first reported the salary cuts.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred informed teams in late April that he would suspend UECs in May, giving teams the option of furloughing employees or reducing their pay. Most teams agreed to continue paying employees through May, but with the season still on hold during the coronavirus pandemic, some are expected to make cuts beginning in June.

MLB and the MLB Players Association are negotiating the owners’ proposal to restart the season in empty stadiums in July, but no progress has been reported since a 67-page document on health and safety protocols was sent to the union last week.

The union has pushed back against MLB’s reported proposal for a 50-50 revenue-sharing split, equating it to a salary cap, after the sides agreed in March to prorated salaries if a shortened season took place.

The restart in early July was contingent on a three-week spring training in June, but the longer an agreement takes, the less likely it is that the season can be salvaged.

Manfred told CNN last week that owners would lose nearly $4 billion if the 2020 season is not played.