SF Giants news: Oracle Park cleared to open in June

The SF Giants will be allowed to play at Oracle Park

Negotiations between MLB owners and players may have a ways to go, but the city of San Francisco announced plans to eliminate one roadblock toward the Giants returning home to Oracle Park.

The city’s plan, announced Thursday by Mayor London Breed, lists pro sports games and tournaments being allowed to begin in Phase 2B, tentatively penciled in for June 15. “Professional sports games, tournaments, and other entertainment venues allowed with no spectators with approved plans,” a bullet point reads.

Fans could return to games in Phase 4, but when that date will be is anybody’s guess. The city plan just lists it as “date unknown” at this time, and notes that it will depend on experiences in Phase 1 and 3.

SF Giants return to Oracle Park

As far as the Giants are concerned, June 15 seems like it would work just fine.

On Tuesday, MLB owners presented their idea for how to get MLB in 2020 restarted. The owners asked players to take a potentially steep cut in their salary for the season, ranging from a small percentage for players earning less than $1 million to up to 80 percent for the highest-paid players.

Giants superstar Buster Posey would see as little as $3.37 million under the plan (if everyone has the math right).

As Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer tweeted, “(T)here’s no reason to engage with MLB in any further compensation reductions. We have previously negotiated a pay cut in the version of prorated salaries, and there’s no justification to accept a (second) pay cut based on the current information the union has received.”

Scherzer is on MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, so it’s more than just bluster if he says they will refuse to negotiate.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports the union’s proposal will include the full prorated salary but more games being played — 100 rather than the 82 the owners see.

So it seems likely if an agreement can be found, it’s probably not going to happen overnight. While the understood goal was to open “Spring Training 2” around June 10 with an Opening Day held somewhere, symbolically enough, around July 4, that all could continue to be pushed back.

At least the Giants know that when this is all sorted out, they’ll be able to play in San Francisco rather than Arizona.