If tradition holds, Rob Manfred will address reporters when the ongoing owners meetings conclude Thursday in Orlando.
I suspect the commissioner will update where the 30 owners stand in negotiations for a new labor deal and announce that spring training, scheduled to open next Wednesday, will not begin on time.
That would be the money quote, though the baseball calendar makes it obvious that even if a deal were reached while you were reading this sentence, there is not enough time to begin on the assigned date. There is just too much needed to still accomplish in an industry that has been in MLB-ordered lockdown since Dec. 2.
But this should not be what resonates from the commissioner. He has a chance to talk directly to players, which should not be undersold. MLB officials express concern that whatever is said in bargaining is then translated in the worst light to the large player body by union officials and strident players to demonize ownership and rally the rank and file to hold strong.
It is part of the rhetoric. Both sides have found useful bogeymen. MLB fosters the perception that the powerful agent Scott Boras is a puppeteer manipulating union leadership to his style and agenda while the players portray Manfred as a baseball- and player-hating labor hatchet man singularly focused on ownership’s wallets. Period.
But Manfred will have the mic Thursday. He can communicate directly to players without interpreters. He can offer an olive branch rather than a verbal baseball bat by focusing on an issue of importance to players and committing not just the written words in a new collective bargaining agreement to addressing it, but the power and bully pulpit of his office.
I would pick service time-manipulation. Why? Because the commissioner (and all the owners) should care as much about the best players being in the majors as the union. It is competitively and ethically the right thing to do. And with MLB (like all sports) doing a full hug of gambling, do you really want to open the can of not employing your best players?
I’m not naive. One favorable gesture will not thaw distrust and hatred calcified over years. But there has to be a foothold toward a CBA. And eventually the sides are going to have to do the harder work of improving the product. Manfred has shown he does not want to unilaterally install new rules (as is his right one year after formally proposing anything from a pitch clock to bigger bases). He wants to do this with the players’ participation, input and (vitally) enthusiasm.
As the game’s popularity is challenged, these eternal sparring partners must find unity to fight for the sport’s future. The commissioner should make this step toward a more cooperative tomorrow. What is the downside? The players don’t believe it? Fine, then we are exactly where we are.
Plus doing the right thing is always in style, and manipulating service time is wrong.
Can you imagine in 1983 when Manfred graduated Harvard Law if his first employer said he had to wait a few months to join the firm so that his salary and chance to move to a better position at some point could be manipulated? Outrageous, right? If you are ready to be a lawyer, you should be a lawyer. And if you are ready to be a major leaguer, you should be a major leaguer.
There are only 780 players good enough to be active at one time. It is among the most exclusive clubs in the world. And when a candidate has earned membership through talent and dedication, he should not be artificially restrained to delay arbitration or free agency.
MLB’s offer to address this issue is to give compensatory draft picks after the first round if a team puts a prospect on the roster from the outset of a season and that player wins Rookie of the Year, Cy Young or MVP in his pre-arbitration phase. I don’t think it is enough of an inducement. For example, I was overwhelmed in 2019 by how many rival executives thought the Mets foolish for putting Pete Alonso on the Opening Day roster — not because he wasn’t ready, but because he was and it could lead to quicker paydays and free agency. What indifference to fairness for a player and the good of the game. Do any of those execs care that Alonso, fans and the industry as a whole would have been robbed of his rookie-record homer season if he didn’t play the whole season?
The modern front office (powered by ownership) sees a mathematical and/or financial equation. If the numbers show the draft pick is worth less than manipulating service time, then the practice will continue.
I understand it is hard to tell who is actually MLB ready. A year ago this month it was revealed by now ex-Mariners president Kevin Mather that the team was holding Jarred Kelenic down artificially. As it turned out, Kelenic actually wasn’t ready when he was brought up.
Still, the commissioner can put his best interest powers behind not just words in a CBA, but that his office will use fines/suspensions and better monitoring to protect the handful of players potentially impacted annually. He should do that because it is the right thing to do — and maybe the right thing will be a step toward a better working relationship with players and real traction in labor negotiations.