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Manfred Attempts To Clarify Comments On Length Of Season

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MLB commissioner Rob Manfred came under fire yesterday after saying in an interview on the Dan Patrick Show that a season longer than 60 games was never feasible. “The reality is we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went, or any other factor,” Manfred told Patrick.

The negative response to those comments was substantial, considering the March agreement between the league and players association expressly stipulated that two parties would make their “best efforts to play as many games as possible.” On Thursday, Manfred spoke to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale in an effort to clarify the point he claims to have been making:

My point was that no matter what happened with the union, the way things unfolded with the second spike, we would have ended up with only time for 60 games, anyway. As time went on, it became clearer and clearer that the course of the virus was going to dictate how many games we could play. … If we had started an 82-game season [beginning July 1], we would have had people in Arizona and Florida the time the second spike hit.

Major League Baseball’s initial proposal to the MLB Players Association was indeed for 82 games with an early-July start date, although that proposal came with additional pay cuts beyond the prorated salaries. The union steadfastly rejected further cuts. Their contention was that the March agreement clearly stated prorated salaries would be in place regardless of whether fans attended games, though neither executive director Tony Clark nor anyone else in the MLBPA could ever seem to explain why they then also allowed the inclusion of a clause indicating the two parties would “discuss in good faith the economic feasibility of playing games in the absence of spectators or at appropriate substitute neutral sites.”

Ultimately, MLB and the MLBPA failed to reach an agreement on the length of a season, which led Manfred to impose a season length with prorated salaries. MLB settled on a 60-game schedule — likely in an effort to avoid a grievance by implementing a season longer than ownership’s reportedly preferred 48 to 54 games.

In the days since that season length has been implemented, there’s been widespread speculation that the MLBPA nonetheless plans to file a grievance against the league — challenging the notion that MLB made its “best efforts to play as many games as possible.” Manfred’s Wednesday comments to Patrick were viewed by many as ammunition for said grievance, so it’s hardly a surprise to see him quickly endeavor to contextualize his words and distance himself from the surface-level sentiment.

That said, what Manfred cannot — or at least so far has not — explain is why the league took so long to get a proposal to the union in the first place. The March agreement was ratified on March 26, and there was already considerable discussion about playing games without spectators at that point. The first report that the league would seek additional pay cuts from players emerged way back on April 16, and yet the league didn’t actually put forth a proposal including those cuts until May 26. Even the league’s initial plan — a 50-50 revenue share that was leaked prior to its official proposal and publicly rejected by the union — wasn’t finalized by owners until May 11.

There’s been vocal criticism of both the union and the league throughout these unsightly and unyielding negotiations. One particularly popular (and still speculative) theory has been that the league deliberately prolonged negotiations to the point where the number of games sought by the union simply couldn’t fit into the schedule. The MLBPA’s initial proposal was for a 119-game season. Subsequent counter-offers featured seasons of 89 games and 70 games, all with prorated salaries. The league never gave consideration to any of those — just as the union gave zero consideration to any MLB proposals seeking pay reductions beyond prorated salaries.

The authenticity behind Manfred’s explanation and the motives of both the league and the MLBPA throughout this contentious process can be (and have been) debated ad nauseam. The end result is a 60-game season and a rebooted “Summer Camp” that will see players begin to report tomorrow — at a time when COVID-19 cases are again on the rise throughout much of the country. Given that context, perhaps the most telling quote from Manfred is not his comment on the length of season but rather another statement he provided to Nightengale:

“The reality is that we’re going to be lucky if we [get] 60 games now given the course of the virus.”

Rosenthal And Drellich: MLB Season Unlikely To Begin Before May

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Commissioner Rob Manfred met with Tony Clark of the Players’ Union to discuss many of the potential issues sure to arise as a result of the coronavirus shutdown. Though many particulars of the 2020 season are being taken into consideration, no decision is expected in the near-term about the official start to the 2020 season. That said, the delay is expected to continue until May at the earliest, per Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic. Still, no official announcement has been made, nor is there likely to be any official decisions made until enough time has passed to better quantify containment of the virus.

In the meantime, the Commissioner’s office is working with Clark and the MLBPA to hammer out a number of issues, including player pay. A delayed season, of course, brings all manner of complication. A truncated season, however, takes those complications to the next level, specifically in regards to service time and how it affects player salaries.

There was some concern that if players left their spring facilities, the MLB would be in a better position to suspend their pay, though those concerns appear to be, per Rosenthal and Drellich, “ill-formed.” The more pertinent question, for now, asks what is the safest route to moving forward and preparing for the eventual 2020 season? Opinions are split right now about whether players are better served staying in camp with their clubs and all the resources, medical and otherwise, at their disposal therein, or whether players should take part in the the broadly-accepted strategy of social distancing. For now, teams and players continue to make their decisions on an individual basis.

Tony Clark: MLBPA’s ‘Strong Preference’ Rays Remain In Tampa Bay

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The Rays’ deliberations about splitting their season between Tampa Bay and Montreal have their fair share of logistical difficulties. Among them could be opposition from the team’s players, who would face unique living and family challenges if the plan were ever to get green-lit.

Until tonight, however, the Players Association had remained quiet about the matter. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark made his first comments in an interview with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Understandably, the union is wary of such a move.

“It would be our strong preference that the club and the players remain in Tampa Bay, and that they’re identified with playing in one market,” Clark told Topkin. He added getting the players to go along with a split-season arrangement would “be difficult.”

However, he didn’t foreclose the possibility of player approval entirely. “I’m not going to say it’s impossible that we couldn’t come to an agreement that’s acceptable for them to split between Tampa Bay and Montreal,” the union head told Topkin. He added the MLBPA would have questions and concerns, predictably, as details of the plan take further shape. The union hasn’t received specifics since the initial conversations were announced last June, Topkin relays.

Rays’ officials expected some opposition from the MLBPA but are optimistic any challenges could be sorted out, Topkin says. Specifically, owner Stuart Sternberg has posited that the move could be a boon for Rays’ players. The arrangement would be more profitable than the organization’s current situation, the thinking goes, enabling the club to expand its perennially low payrolls. That, obviously, would mean higher player salaries. That’s plausible enough, but the Players Association figures to want more than Sternberg’s word he’ll loosen the purse strings before signing off on such a monumental change.

No move is imminent regardless. The target date for the beginning of the split season is 2028, Topkin reports, perhaps because of opposition from St. Petersburg city officials. That leaves plenty of time for further discussion. It seems, however, the Rays have become increasingly serious about moving forward in recent months. The organization and officials from Montreal are working to sort out details, including approval from both the league and union, as well as the opening of new stadiums in each market, Topkin adds. There’s sure to be more news on this front as the plan becomes more defined.

The Rays’ long-term future will be one of many areas of focus for the MLBPA in the coming months and years. The collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2021 season. Between the icy free agent markets in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 offseasons, potential seismic changes to the game’s playoff structure, and perhaps some player resentment of the arbitration process, Clark and his staff will have plenty of issues to work through with the league.

MLBPA Launches Investigation Of Comments From Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos

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9:50pm: Anthopoulos has issued a statement (via the Braves, on Twitter), saying: “In advance of the General Managers meetings, I called around to Clubs to explore the possibility of potential off-season trades. At no time during any of these calls was there discussion of individual free agents or the Braves’ intentions with respect to the free agent market. To the extent I indicated otherwise during my media availability on Monday, I misspoke and apologize for any confusion.”

5:40pm: Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, announced Wednesday that the MLBPA has launched an investigation looking into recent comments from Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Specifically, the union took umbrage with the following comment Anthopoulos made during a recent conference call with Atlanta beat writers (link via The Athletic’s David O’Brien):

Every day you get more information. And we’ve had time to connect with 27 of the clubs — obviously the Astros and (Nationals) being in the World Series, they were tied up — but we had a chance to get a sense of what the other clubs are going to look to do in free agency, who might be available in trades.

The MLBPA’s issue stems from Anthopoulos’ acknowledgment of getting a feel for how other clubs plan to act in free agency. With regard to sharing intel in free agency, the collective bargaining agreement states: “Players shall not act in concert with other Players, and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs.” In a press release, Clark expressed extreme displeasure with Anthopoulos’ assertion and offered the following response:

The statements made by Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos call into question the integrity of the entire free-agent system. The clear description of Club coordination is egregious, and we have launched an immediate investigation looking into the matter.

It’s the latest chapter in a saga that has seen tension between labor and management mount at an alarming rate. Clark and the Union have previously asked the league to investigate whether low-payroll clubs have appropriately utilized their revenue-sharing resources — the Pirates and Marlins, specifically — as multiple agents (including agent-turned-Mets-GM Brodie Van Wagenen) have spoken of “coordinated” efforts on the part of owners to scale back salaries at the Major League level. Clark has also accused MLB teams of a “race to the bottom,” and more recently raised issue with teams’ early assertions that they’ll face payroll constraints despite the continual increase in franchise values. (The Royals and Marlins have recently sold for $1 billion and $1.2 billion.)

There’s been no shortage of speculation surrounding a potential labor stoppage at the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement (in 2021). The extent of the unrest has prompted the league and the union to begin negotiations for the next CBA much earlier than they’d normally have begun such discussions, but today’s statement from Clark only underscores the chasm that currently exists between the two sides.

Tony Clark Skeptical Of Organizational Spending Plans

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After a 2018 offseason that saw countless veterans linger on the free agent vine much longer than anticipated, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is expecting yet another cooled stove this winter–and, judging from comments made to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal on Thursday, he doesn’t sound particularly pleased about it.

“The Hot Stove season has traditionally been about ticket sales and fan engagement,” Clark told Rosenthal. “Yet several clubs are laying the groundwork for more of the same [this offseason], even as franchise values skyrocket and central revenues continue to increase. These blanket proclamations send precisely the wrong message to fans, and undermine the competitive landscape that fuels interest in the game from day one of spring training through the final game of the World Series.”

For context, it’s important to note that Clark is largely responding to recent comments made by several C-level club executives and owners around the game: Red Sox brass has indicated a desire to get under the CBT threshold in advance of 2020; the Rockies, fresh off of a fourth-place season, indicated a lack of “flexibility” in regard to finances for 2020; and, just this week, our own Steve Adams delved into the possible maneuvers the Astros could undertake in avoidance of the luxury tax line, after owner Jim Crane poured cold water on the idea of a Houston-Geritt Cole reunion. For teams at every position in the standings, “spending” has become a center-stage PR concern in 2019.

Clark also took pains to note that MLB saw a decline in gate attendance for the fourth consecutive season, with, specifically, a 1.6 year-over-year drop from 2018 to 2019. That such a decline would occur while another term–“tanking”–is also becoming common parlance would seem to add some teeth to Clark’s comments. In 2019, 20 teams finished with 90-or-more losses or 90-or-more wins, while a whopping eight teams finished with 100-or-more losses or 100-or-more wins.

Rosenthal’s column also features comments from MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem, who takes–as one might expect–a more tempered view of game-wide spending patterns, noting that the Minnesota Twins saw a huge jump in 2019 attendance despite a quiet 18-19 offseason in terms of spending (the club’s two “major” expenditures being a collective three years of commitment to Marwin Gonzalez and Nelson Cruz). Certainly, this instance of public back-and-forth represents an interesting bit of repartee occurring between both league and players union in advance of the current collective bargaining agreement’s expiration in December of 2021.

MLB, Players Association Discuss Prospect Of Mandated Opioid Testing

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Major League Baseball and the Players Association have no shortage of topics to talk about these days, but a new issue has forced its way onto the agenda: opioid testing. The autopsy results after the tragic passing of Tyler Skaggs turned this national conversation into a touch point for MLB, and the two sides are discussing the possibilities of including random screenings for opioids into the official drug testing program, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.

Opioids do appear on the banned-substance list – a fine first step – but major league players aren’t subject to testing without reasonable cause. Tony Clark, the executive director of the Players Association, released a statement last Friday in which he said: “For several reasons, including the tragic loss of a member of our fraternity and other developments happening in the country as a whole, it is appropriate and important to reexamine all of our drug protocols relating to education, treatment and prevention.”

As drug testing has been an area of relative common ground in recent years, an accord here could inject a note of harmony to a negotiation largely fraught with skepticism.  Even so, don’t expect anything contractual in the near-term. The opioid crisis is but one issue among many being discussed in the lead up to CBA negotiations in 2021. MLB and the Players Association are meeting about once a month for these “early negotiations,” per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. While these sessions could not be more foundational to the overall discussions, the goal of diplomacy at this stage is more to about gauging temperature than putting pen to paper.

Both sides cite player welfare as a primary objective of these preliminary talks, though at present, there’s little reason to suspect pervasive use of opioids throughout the game. What information they do have comes from mandated testing for minor leaguers, who lack union protection and therefore are subject to testing and discipline by the commissioner’s office. More than 78,000 tests have been conducted for minor league players, resulting in just 12 suspensions, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan.

Still, fentanyl is the leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S., and the Skaggs autopsy provided an opportunity to be proactive. The rate and severity of injury puts players at risk for exposure through short-term surgical use, and most players certainly have the financial means to foster ongoing abuse should it become an issue. There is likely to be stronger solution in the new CBA, as leaving the safety of players to the discretion of team doctors is hardly the most comprehensive approach, not to mention the burden of responsibilities it places on the doctors themselves.

“Fierce Union Advocate” Rick Shapiro Parts Ways With MLB Players Association

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The MLB Players Association has ended their relationship with long-time executive Rick Shapiro, per ESPN’s Buster Olney (via Twitter). Shapiro had seen his role and influence with the Players Union increasingly diminished in recent months.  

Parting ways with one of their lawyers feels like a significant move, especially as we get closer to defining the real meat of the 2021 labor negotiations. Of Shapiro’s particular influence, Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter) writes:

“Shapiro was a fierce union advocate, but also someone MLB viewed as knowing the history of CBA negotiations and capable of getting to a deal, so his exit is another sign of war drums by the union with the end of the CBA coming following 2021. Haven spoken to multiple agents tonight who feel this is a big loss for union, in part because Shapiro also was a key figure in the arbitration process and this loss of his institutional knowledge and advocacy will not be easily replaced. Since the death of Mike Weiner and naming of Tony Clark to lead the union, Rick’s influence had internally waned. Still agents were shocked that the end came this morning rather than waiting until the next CBA was completed. The union did not want to comment on this matter.”

Given the shifting tenor of contract negotiators in general between players and owners, departing a well-regarded litigator is a notable move for the union. Without comment or knowledge of corresponding moves, however, it’s presumptuous to assume this move speaks to a willingness (or even eagerness) on the players’ part to “lean in” to the coming conflict (as it seems on the surface).

That said, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that there are many in the industry who feel this is a sign of the growing momentum of a potential strike. Regardless, Shapiro’s exit can be added to the catalog of happenings to keep near-at-hand as we sift through narratives in advance of the 2021 collecting bargaining negotiation.

MLB Awards “Championship Belt” During Arbitration Symposium

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Major League Baseball hosts an annual symposium on arbitration wherein delegates from each team come together with the league to make recommendations for upcoming arbitration hearings. There is a ceremony near the end of the symposium when a “championship belt” is awarded to the team that best accomplished the “goals set by the industry,” per The Athletic’s Marc Carig. Passed annually from one year’s winner to the next, The Belt is a chintzy, plastic “prize,” intended as a moment of levity and morale for what can be a difficult process on all sides. In this thoughtful article, Carig digs into the arbitration process, its history, the toll it takes on those involved, and of course, The Belt.

Clearly, given the tumultuous relationship between Major League Baseball, the owners, and the Players’ Association, the optics here aren’t great. However harmless the intent (or however private), an award for essentially best limiting the earning potential for players is not likely to sit well with the MLBPA – or the public for that matter. MLB confirmed existence of The Belt, explaining it as “an informal recognition of those club’s salary arbitration departments that did the best.” This season, the finalists were the Astros, Braves, Cubs, Indians, Rays, and Twins.

Executive Director of the MLBPA Tony Clark reacted with a statement (via Twitter), saying, “That clubs make sport of trying to suppress salaries in a process designed to produce fair settlements shows a blatant lack of respect for our Players, the game, and the arbitration process itself.”

MLBPA Extends Contract Of Executive Director Tony Clark

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The Major League Baseball Players Association has voted to extend the contract of executive director Tony Clark, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. His term of office is now due to run through 2022, meaning he’ll stay in charge through the duration of the five-year Basic Agreement he previously negotiated and lead the MLBPA as it prepares to hammer out a new one in 2021.

Clark, a long-time MLB player himself, took the top union post in December of 2013 after the untimely death of Michael Weiner. At the time, the sport was basking in the glow of booming economic growth and longstanding labor peace. The relatively pleasant pie-dividing process has more recently given way to some bickering at the table. Even as the money continues to stream in, teams have increasingly shown a reluctance to commit whopping future sums to relatively old free agents. That, in turn, has many questioning whether the MLBPA needs to craft a new strategic approach.

There are a whole host of interrelated factors at work, of course, including changes to the aging curve, the still-growing power of analytics in all aspects of the game, and perhaps also increasingly business-focused organizational leadership. And it’d be foolish to leap to any final conclusions about the nature of the player market. The best way to ensure revenue for a team, after all, is still to put a compelling product on the field. And the 2018 attendance drop no doubt was felt by some organizations. Competitive pressures still matter.

Still, the collective bargaining situation — in particular, the outcome of the 2016 negotiations — remains a notable factor in the changing labor market dynamics that have been met with no small amount of consternation by the players. As details of the 2016 CBA deal emerged, it became increasingly clear that the Clark-led union approach was one of tweaking the details of the existing system. There were modifications to the qualifying offer, a process that unfairly impacted a few veteran free agents but did not take a major bite out of the players’ overall take. The minimum salary crept up, as did the luxury tax line, and players added gained notable scheduling modifications and other changes to improve their lot.

At the same time, though, the MLBPA gave some notable concessions to the league that may well have dovetailed with other developments to hur the players’ collective bottom line. In particular, significant new penalties for spending over the luxury line held out the promise of constraining top-level payrolls. Meanwhile, a hard cap went in place for international signings, leaving virtually the entire amateur market subject to strict limits.

Those modifications have pressed established big leaguers from both sides, in a manner that was perhaps not easy to foresee in full. Teams are not only disincentivized from adding additional large salaries to finish off a roster, owing to the taxation scheme, but have less reason to do so given their ability to achieve excess value from young talent filtering up through the farm (which is cheaply replaced through the amateur market). An abundance of power arms, for example, has led to the cost-efficient approach of “bullpenning,” while big-market organizations like the Dodgers and Yankees have increasingly found ways to achieve excellent results without dishing out too many monster contracts. Of course, the more truly youthful players are pressed up to the majors, the sooner they’ll reach arbitration and free agency, and the more “prime” years they’ll have to sell.

It will likely take some time for the market changes to settle out and reveal themselves in full. Still, the problems from the players’ side were on display last winter, as numerous veterans found less receptive markets than they had anticipated. Clark went on a PR blitz as the market stagnated and filed a grievance against four teams that accuses them of failing to properly spend their revenue-sharing funds. As a practical matter, though, there wasn’t much that could be done at that point.

For Clark, looking ahead, there are strategic challenges aplenty. The union may need to consider trying more radical changes to its approach, which has traditionally benefited the most-established ballplayers while leaving relative crumbs for young major leaguers and high-end incoming amateurs (and actual crumbs for most minor-leaguers). Gambling money is another potentially game-changing financial boon for teams — and one that the players will not only want a piece of, but could utilize to their advantage from a public relations standpoint.

No doubt there are many possible strategies on the table. With a new lead negotiator to assist him, Clark is surely preparing for the 2021 CBA negotiations and the interim actions that might be taken. As veteran reliever Andrew Miller puts it, “We have confidence in Tony with where we are and where we’re going.”

MLBPA Hires New CBA Negotiator

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The Major League Baseball Players Association announced yesterday that it has hired veteran attorney Bruce Meyer to serve as its senior director of collective bargaining & legal. He is expected to play a leading role in the MLBPA’s negotiation efforts with MLB.

According to the announcement, Meyer “will report to [MLBPA executive director] Tony Clark while focusing on all facets of the negotiation and the enforcement of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.”

Meyer comes to the game of baseball after decades of experience with unions of other sports. Most recently, he worked for the National Hockey League Player’s Association. There, he functioned alongside NHLPA executive director Don Fehr, the former longtime MLBPA director.

Fehr’s notable run at the helm of the MLBPA — which spanned several contentious and controversial episodes in labor relations — came to an end when he stepped down in 2009, handing the reins to Michael Weiner. Upon Weiner’s untimely death in late 2013, the top job passed down to Clark.

The addition of Meyer atop the MLBPA negotiation team comes nearly two years after the most recent round of CBA negotiations. The resulting agreement in many ways maintained preexisting approaches to managing the contractual interactions of players and teams, but included several notable rules tweaks that many believe operated to the detriment of players (see, e.g., this post from Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper).

In particular, the luxury tax line and international spending limitations have arguably harmed MLB players’ earning upside, particularly for quality veterans seeking long-term deals in free agency. It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that there’s another fascinating market test coming up this winter. While multiple big-market organizations made sure in the last offseason to reset their luxury tax rates (which increase upon consecutive seasons in excess of the spending line), those same teams and others could now be freed to loosen their purse strings somewhat.

Three more years remain for the union to gather evidence and plot a strategic course before a ramp-up toward a new CBA. In the meantime, the MLBPA has already launched a grievance action against four teams for allegedly failing to properly utilize funds received through revenue-sharing rules.

Just how the Meyer hiring will influence the progress of labor relations remains to be seen. With his litigation background — the announcement notes he has worked on “several landmark grievances and lawsuits brought on behalf of Players across each of the North American major professional sports” — Meyer certainly has experience in more confrontational means of engaging with sports leagues and owners. Surely, though, the preference on all sides will remain the avoidance of any disruptions to business, particularly as the game of baseball encounters some tricky issues with respect to the nature of the game, its competitive balance, and its delivery to consumers in person and through a screen.

For his part, Meyer says the move represents an “opportunity to continue my commitment as a Player advocate.” He also noted in his statement that he “believe[s] in Tony’s vision for the Players and for the organization,” a message evidently intended to convey internal solidarity and affirm Clark’s leadership position in light of the criticism he has received.

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