MLB has fired back at MASN in an ongoing media-rights battle, accusing the Orioles-controlled RSN of wanting “to conduct a fishing expedition ... in a fruitless search for evidence that MLB corruptly controlled” the Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee that ruled in favor of the Nationals. The league this week filed paperwork with the N.Y. Supreme Court in reply to MASN’s recent move seeking discovery regarding the RSDC’s decision-making process, and more specifically the role of MLB COO and Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred’s role in it. The league said the MASN discovery request is improper and not supported by any evidence to back its claims. A hearing on the discovery request is slated for Dec. 15, with primary oral arguments in the overall case scheduled for March. “At no point during the RSDC proceeding did MASN or the Orioles object to the participation or role of MLB staff, including the role I played in the matter,” Manfred wrote in a legal affirmation. Manfred filed that statement from K.C., where he was attending MLB owners’ meetings. What remains to be seen is whether MLB will face an issue regarding what will likely be seen by MASN as a shifting legal strategy. After previously asserting the RSDC was a fully independent body free from substantive league involvement, MLB’s most recent filing admits that league personnel draft RSDC written decisions and frequently provide legal advice. MLB in its paperwork likened the situation to “the interaction between a judge and his law clerk.” But MASN is likely to argue that the league’s current second-highest ranking executive and commissioner-elect is anything but a law clerk.
