Manfred, union head exchange salvos
WASHINGTON — Despite a shared and stated interest in solving baseball’s on-field issues regarding pace and action, the sport’s labor and management chiefs Tuesday dialed up the bitter rhetoric on its economic issues, suggesting lingering resentment over the direction of last winter’s freeagent market could poison future discussions over potential rules changes.
Union head Tony Clark fired the first shot, saying the slow-moving offseason market — which left dozens of veterans unsigned until deep into the spring — was “a direct attack” on a free-agent structure that “has been a bedrock of our economic system.”
“If that (system) is going to be different,” Clark said in an address to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America several hours before the All-Star Game at Nationals Park, “then we have some difficult decisions to make moving forward.”
Asked if he were suggesting a potential work stoppage when the current labor contract runs out in 2021, Clark said, “Our players . . . are very passionate about the rights they have, (and) to the extent there are challenges to those rights, historically I would suggest those have manifested themselves a particular way.”
Confronted with Clark’s rhetoric, commissioner Rob Manfred, speaking to the BBWAA immediately afterward, reiterated his suggestion that players, their agents and the union leadership simply misread last winter’s market.
“‘Direct attack’ connotes some sort of purposeful behavior,” Manfred said. “The only purposeful behavior that took place in the freeagent market last year is our clubs carefully analyzed the available players and made individual decisions as to what they thought those players were worth. … At the end of the year, you’ll look at the performance of those players, and I’m pretty sure, based on what’s already on the books, you’re going to make the judgement the clubs made sound decisions as to how those players should be valued. That’s how markets operate.”
While Clark said multiple times he wished to have a conversation with Manfred regarding various issues, Manfred outlined at least two instances when, he said, Clark ignored offers to meet.
“In response to those last two invitations, we still have not had a meeting,” Manfred said. “We are in the middle of a (labor) contract. There’s no big rush. I’m hopeful Tony will be able to get himself in a position where we can have a meaningful dialogue on these issues and reach positive resolution.”
Manfred, citing a “consensus” on the part of owners, appears ready to begin substantive discussions about improving an on-field product that has been choked by inaction, with strikeouts for the first time in history outpacing hits and the ball in play less frequently than ever. Rules that would limit the use of defensive shifts and/or relief pitchers — both of which have increased in recent years through the spreading influence of analytics — are among potential changes.
“The changes you’re seeing are being driven by smart (front-office) people who want to win more baseball games,” Manfred said. “The question for us becomes: At what point do we want to step in and manage that organic change? (It) may be driven by competition, but there’s lots of places in life where competition has to be bridled a little bit.”
The union historically has been resistant to rule changes, most recently decrying Manfred’s efforts to install a pitch clock to speed up the game’s pace.
“There are always unintended consequences to changes,” Clark said. “Having discussions about adjustments to the game against the backdrop of how information is being valued, offered and applied is what I believe should happen. Otherwise, we’re going to see a trend, change a rule, see a trend, change a rule, see a trend, change a rule.”