Rob Manfred is the Worst Commissioner of the Four Major Sports
Just cancel the season at this point. The players have been willing to make a deal that favors both sides since the beginning. Do not listen to anyone who says that the delay to the season is because of the players. This is on the owners and the owners only.
Rob Manfred
Rob Manfred became commissioner of the MLB in 2015. He was elected to take the role once Bud Selig retired. Manfred has been in the owner’s pockets going all the way back to the strike that shortened the 1994 season. He served as outside counsel for the owners during the strike. Since he took the job, he has been working on making the game more accessible to the casual fan. He has implemented many pace of play procedures to try and speed up the game. For example, he has implemented time clocks for commercials, limited the number of mound visits, and most recently, implemented the three batter minimum for pitchers.
Salary Negotiations
Manfred’s job is to advocate for the owners. As the commissioner of the MLB, he works for the owners. When it comes to labor and salary negotiations, his job is to make sure the owners get the best deal possible. Naturally, that comes with a lot of resentment from the players side. Ever since the negotiations regarding this season started, the players have been willing to make a deal. All they want is to receive the salary in proportion to the number of games played.
So, Rob, explain to us how you can be 100% sure that there’s going to be baseball but not confident there will be baseball at the same time? hmmm. What changed between those statements 🤔🤔 Players told you to set the season, but it’s too early to set the season right now,
— Trevor Bauer (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Rob Manfred and the owners are walking back on their word…AGAIN. The fans do not deserve this. So I’ll say it one more time, tell us when and where.
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) June 16, 2020
In a manner of a couple days, Rob Manfred has gone from 100% there will be baseball, to no longer being confident at all. The owners, who are BILLIONAIRES, keep claiming that they need keep cutting back spending to survive. What a joke. Each of the owners proposals over the past few weeks have essentially been the same proposal over and over again. The players are left with offer after offer that benefits the owners far more than the players. Naturally, the players are outraged.
Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark today released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/ibyOqB93WC
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 15, 2020
Final Thoughts
In reality, there is really only one good commissioner in North American sports. It’s too bad Adam Silver can’t be the head of every league. Baseball had its chance to reclaim its spot as America’s national past time. From what it seems, like the NHL may be the first league to return to play since play was paused. Let’s just take that in for a moment. The NHL, one of the worst run leagues, actually has a plan and the players are on board with it. The NBA is still figuring things out with its star players and the NFL doesn’t matter right now.
The MLB has become the laughing stock of American professional sports and it is all Rob Manfred’s fault. The players have said multiple times they are ready and willing to negotiate but the owners and MLB are not doing it in good faith. This is going to boil over into CBA negotiations in a few years, and it is going to be ugly. We may lose a lot more baseball in the near future if this does not get sorted out soon.
-Pete Chatterton (@Pchat12)