Illinois governor apologizes for comments about possible MLB pay cuts

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker apologized Wednesday for his comments about Major League Baseball players not accepting a pay cut before an abbreviated 2020 season.

"I want to apologize for leaving the impression that baseball players shouldn’t have the right to bargain to protect their health and safety," Pritzker said during his daily briefing on Wednesday, according to Tim Stebbins of NBC Sports Chicago. "I absolutely support that right, and I should have made that more clear."

On Tuesday, Pritzker said he was "disappointed in many ways that players are holding out for these very, very high salaries and payments during a time when I think everybody is sacrificing." The governor was quickly criticized for those remarks.

His comments came shortly after MLBPA executive director Tony Clark stated that the union would reject any proposal from owners containing revenue sharing, comparing the idea to a salary cap.

Players reportedly want to see MLB's books before making any further decisions on revenue sharing. Owners are reportedly claiming that MLB will lose money if it pays players prorated salaries during a shortened 2020 season.

MLB's owners finalized their latest proposal on Monday and sent it to the union the following day.