What, might the owners want?
To pile drive free agency into further oblivion. Their gains on the edges in recent CBAs combined with significant aversion to competition by multiple franchises at a given time has inspired MLBPA executive director Tony Clark to call free agency broken and “a race to the bottom” for teams failing to compete. From an ownership perspective, the past five years have brought a level of salary containment unseen since the likes of Curt Flood, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally fought in and out of court to eradicate the reserve clause that once tied players to their clubs in perpetuity.
The owners smell blood in the water and now seem intent on going for the kill.
But a bunch of guys just signed huge deals. What’s the problem?
That’s true. Top-shelf free agents such as Marcus Semien ($175 million, Rangers), Max Scherzer ($130 million, Mets) and Kevin Gausman ($110 million, Blue Jays) rushed to complete deals before a lockout can be imposed. Seven of the top 20 players among our 106 best free agents have already signed – not bad for late November.
Yet the tippy-top of the market (think: Correa) and the very bottom of it (think: Buckets of fungible relievers) will largely have to wait, and that’s a decent indication of what’s at stake. The Semiens and Gausmans aren’t re-setting any bars, nor are they borderline veterans who might be easily replaced by a minimum-wage rookie. Those deals tend to occur on the back end of free agency – and signing teams may want to survey the state of play in a new CBA before making any moves.
I just want my baseball. Who do I blame for all this?
In 2021-22, commissioner Rob Manfred will be playing the role of Selig, Clark will be fronting on behalf of the union, yet their trusted wingmen – Dan Halem on behalf of MLB, and longtime sports union bulldog Bruce Meyer for the players’ association – will likely be the key combatants. Semien, Scherzer and pitcher Collin McHugh comprise the most significant faces on the MLBPA’s executive player committee.
And while it’s easy to affix a “kick me” sign to the back of Manfred’s suit jacket, keep in mind that he works for the 30 owners, a collection of hedge fund and private equity vultures, business tycoons and nepotism lottery winners.