Rodriguez wants players to accept salary cap system

NEW YORK » Alex Rodriguez, among four groups of bidders for a possible purchase of the New York Mets, called for baseball players accept the type of revenue-sharing system that is tied to a salary cap and sparked quick opposition from the union.

Following the collapse of labor talks dealing with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, relations between Major League Baseball and the players’ association are at the lowest point in a quartercentury. The sides appear headed to a spring training lockout in 2022.

Preparing for the start of his third season as an analyst on ESPN’s Sunday night telecasts, Rodriguez said baseball players’ leverage had changed since they fought off the owners’ salary-cap proposal with a 7 ½-month strike in 1994-95. He said the rise of the NFL and NBA had changed the equation along with digital media, and said the players’ association should work collaboratively with MLB to raise the sport’s market share.

“The only way it’s going to happen is if they get to the table and say the No. 1 goal, let’s get from $10 to $15 billion and then we’ll split the economics evenly,” he said July 16 during a conference call. “But that’s the type of conversation instead of fighting and fighting against each other because there’s too much competition out there right now.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred unilaterally announced a 60-game schedule this year as the union kept open the possibility of filing a grievance accusing teams of negotiating in bad faith.

The union lost a grievance this year accusing the Chicago Cubs of manipulating the service time of star third baseman Kris Bryant to delay his eligibility for free agency and have a pending grievance charging several teams of failing to properly use proceeds from the revenue sharing plan among big league clubs.

Rodriguez made about $448 million in his big league career. He debuted with Texas in July 1994 and was sent back to TripleA 10 days before the strike started on Aug. 12. He maintains an “understanding that the leverage of the players in 1994 was wholly different than today.”

“Then we had a stranglehold on professional sports. Baseball was 1,” he said. “Today the NBA has become an international conglomerate, NFL’s a juggernaut. Back then there was no Netflix, there was no Snapchat, there was no Disney+, ESPN+ and everything they’re doing to attract their attention. So today we have to really work collaborative, with the players and the owners, to say how do we compete together to become No. 1?”

Rodriguez, who turns 45 on July 27, is a three-time American League MVP. He was suspended by MLB for the entire 2014 season for violations of the sport’s drug agreement and labor contract. The players’ association filed a grievance on his behalf and although the suspension was not reduced, arbitrator Fredric Horowitz restored $2,868,852 of his $25 million salary for that season, 21/183rds of the total.