MLB mulls live video limits
say,” he said, pointing toward spring training as the possible time and place for contrition.
Baseball has looked at earpieces as a way to avoid the use of signs but determined it would be impractical While football uses earpieces, helmets are much larger than baseball caps.
“It’s much harder to design an earpiece that would be comfortable for players to wear in lieu of signs,” he said, adding, “it’s hard to be as fast as hand signals.”
Astros owner Jim Crane did not attend the meetings. Team spokesman Gene Dias said Crane had a scheduling conflict.
On other matters:
METS SALE
Manfred says talks have ended over the proposed sale of a controlling share of the New York Mets from the families of Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to hedge fund manager Steven Cohen.
COMPUTERIZED PLATE UMPIRES
Manfred said the automated balls and strikes system will have to be negotiated with the players’ union before it is used in the major leagues. MLB is using the system at nine ballparks of the Class A Florida State League this year and will test it during big league spring training without using it in exhibition games.
“It’s fair to assume that we’re going to continue to test at increasingly significant levels of play to make sure we’ve got it right before we leagues,” he said.
OLYMPICS
bring it to
Manfred said MLB was discussing whether to make some 40-man roster players available for the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in Arizona from March 22-26. “The timing’s a little difficult there,” he said.
Using a team with no 40-man players and few top prospects, the U.S. was three outs from qualifying at the Premier12 tournament last November but wasted a ninth-inning lead to Mexico and lost in 10 innings.
“We are going to make every effort to field as competitive a team as possible,” Manfred.
MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
the major
Owners were given an update MLB’s proposal to eliminate 42 minor league affiliates in negotiations for a Professional Baseball Agreement with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, the governing body of the minors. Talks are set to resume Feb. 20. The current deal expires after this season.
“There is unanimous support among the owners for the objectives and the strategy that we’re pursuing with respect to this negotiation, in particular our objectives of modernizing minor league baseball, improving the working conditions of the players who play there,”
Manfred said. “I’m hopeful that the minor league negotiating committee is able to get a consensus among its constituents, a consensus that’s strong enough that they can make us finally a written proposal that’s supported by their membership.”
GAMBLING
MLB may alter its regulations on team owners and casino gambling in a manner that could affect the Ilitch family. Different members of the family control the Detroit Tigers and a casino.”
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Los Angeles Dodgers chairman Mark Walter and Detroit Tigers chairman Christopher Ilitch were appointed to the executive council following the end of the four-year terms of Chicago Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and Tampa Bay Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg. The council also includes Crane; San Diego’s Ron Fowler (whose terms expire in 2021); Milwaukee’s Mark Attanasio; Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago White Sox (2022); Boston’s John Henry; and Colorado’s Dick Monfort (2023).