Rob Manfred spoke to reporters after this week’s quarterly owners meetings. Jorge Castillo of ESPN, Ronald Blum of the Associated Press and Evan Drellich of The Athletic are among those who relayed the commissioner’s comments.
Manfred spoke publicly for the first time since the league and the Players Association exchanged economic proposals last week. That was worlds apart, the most notable development being MLB’s first official proposal to raise the salary cap since the 1994-95 players’ strike. The league proposed a $245.3MM cap and a $171.2MM floor. That would come with a 50-50 revenue split between players and ownership, requiring some of the players’ salaries to be held in escrow in case the league underperforms.
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The MLBPA’s executive director, Bruce Meyer, criticized the proposal on Monday, stressing the union’s opposition to the conclusion – calling it “a form of institutional collusion.” Manfred did not directly respond to Meyer’s comments but took his usual approach, framing it as a matter of competition.
“We have tried very hard in many rounds of negotiations to use the competition (luxury) tax to deal with competition issues,” said Manfred. “And sometimes you have to admit that you failed.” Manfred did not clearly say that the cap is the only solution but he said that major changes are needed.
“We made a proposal on one topic, at the beginning of the negotiations I went and said to myself, ‘We are open to any ideas that people have, but we need a realistic framework that will address the concerns of the fans about the level of competition.’ You cannot ignore that the fines have not reached us yet.” The luxury tax has been in place since 2003.
That’s a standard talking point for the league. The union’s original proposal called for more money allocations and a “competitive integrity tax” that penalizes teams that spend less than $150MM in payroll. The union wants to keep the luxury tax setup and proposes to raise the base limit to $300MM.
Of course, both sides will push for competitive balances in their favor for income sharing. Adjusting spending on players will also go towards the owners’ goals of growing franchise values. It’s debatable whether he really cares about competitive parity, although it’s clear that’s a key concern for many fans – especially those of smaller market clubs.
An offseason lockout appears inevitable when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1. The 2021-22 lockout lasted 99 days and narrowly avoided the cancellation of games. “Of course,” Manfred replied when asked if he was worried about a more dangerous work stoppage like the ’94-95 strike. He declined to answer a question about whether the league’s desire to find a cap would make the vacancy long-term, saying he wouldn’t “speculate on a layoff.”
Nothing can help Manfred to answer that question. The extent to which both sides are willing to tolerate a lockout that could cost them game money is an important piece of information that they cannot divulge publicly. Both sides should emphasize their commitment in general.
The commissioner also touched on several non-CBA topics. He provided an update on the trade deal that cost the Padres less than $4 billion. That is pending approval from the other 29 owners. Manfred said that is “not ready for a vote today” but could come up sometime this summer. He also touched on the extension, noting that that is a topic that will be on the back burner until the new CBA is in place.
