MLBPA executive visits players at camp
commissioner Rob Manfred aimed at increasing the pace of play.
Pirates president Frank Coonelly and Rays owner Stuart Sternberg challenged the validity of the grievance. The Athletics, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, said they agreed with MLB’s statement, which said the grievance had “no merit.”
This winter, the Pirates reduced their payroll by $19 million when they traded Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole, and are the only team not to sign a major league free agent. They are a revenue-sharing recipient, though according to MLB and Coonelly, their share has decreased in recent years. Teams must provide a thorough accounting of their intentions for revenuesharing receipts, which must be used to improve the product on the field — though not necessarily on payroll. Clark said the union understands the cyclical nature of the game, where periodically a team needs to rebuild. The issue now is the number of teams that don’t appear to be trying to win.
“To the extent that we see what we think are upwards of a third of the league, some of which have voiced their interest, or lack thereof, publicly in regards to the value of winning, or the value of competing day in and day out, that’s where our concern comes from,” Clark said.
Some teams’ apparent lack of an attempt to win, coupled with clubs’ aversion to paying tens of millions of dollars to players on the wrong side of the aging curve, has contributed to a slow free-agent market. Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, Alex Cobb, Carlos Gonzalez and Mike Moustakas are the most prominent among the several unsigned free agents.
“We also know that on any given year, there’s anywhere from 15, 20, 25 of those guys that are still having some challenges,” Clark said. “We just haven’t seen this, against the backdrop of the quality of the guys that are still out there, knowing those guys can help clubs while also being in a climate where it appears that there are clubs that aren’t necessarily looking to be helped.”
Clark also clarified that Manfred unilaterally imposed pace-of-game initiatives, which include a limit on mound visits. The language in the MLB statement released last month said “we were able to reach an understanding with the Players Association.”
“Therewas no agreement on what was put in place,” Clark said. “As a matter of fact, I’ll go so far as to suggest there were fundamental disagreements over what makes the most sense moving forward. … Players do not believe that a game could be or should be decided on the merits of a pace of-game violation. Just don’t, now or moving forward.”
The rules restrict mound visits to six per nine innings, with exceptions for cross ups and injuries.
“The thing I got from it the most was that the commissioner can do whatever he wants, essentially, whether we agree to it or not,” said Jameson Taillon, the Pirates’ new union representative. “As players we’re really concerned about changing the fabric of thegame.”
Taillon and Josh Harrison said several players, including young players years away from free agency, asked questions during the nearly two-hour meeting. Clark also informed the players of the grievance.
“In a perfect world, there would be no concerns raised by anyone,” Taillon said. “Every team would be spending and there would be no concerns. It’s not a great thing when your team’s in the news for the wrong reasons, but we asked questions about that too.”