MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark yesterday "dispelled the notion" that the union "did not provide adequate support" to banned Mets P Jenrry Mejia, according to Maria Guardado of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Mejia, who was permanently barred from baseball after three failed doping tests, told the N.Y. Times the MLBPA "should have done more" to help his cause. However, Clark said that Mejia's grievances "were never relayed to the MLBPA." Clark: "Any time there's a concern from a player about a situation related to support that he feels he got or didn't get, it's concerning. But again, we are confident that we take every case very seriously and provide the support from start to finish for players" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 3/7). Mejia in the original report said that he was the "victim of a witch hunt" by MLB and that the players' union "did not properly advocate on his behalf." Mejia last Thursday said that he was "guilty only of the first doping offense." The N.Y. TIMES' Ben Berkon noted after the second positive test, which Mejia "said was inaccurate, he was pressured" by MLB to "share information about his doping connections." Mejia went on to say baseball officials told him if he appealed the punishment for the second offense, they would "find a way to find a third positive." Berkon noted MLB officials "denied making any such threats." Mejia also said that he asked the players' union for help, but "representatives told him there were no grounds for an appeal." Mejia: "The association should have done more. ... They should have found something to appeal for" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/4).
MEDIA DISCONNECT? In DC, Chelsea Janes cited a report which said that in wake of the "inaccurate reports" of Dexter Fowler's free agency, Clark reportedly "wanted to close major league clubhouses to the media, limiting their access to three players brought to a designated media room." But Clark said the report was "completely inaccurate." Clark: "Despite the fact that I have concerns with how information is moving from one side to another, and being made available from the unnamed source or things like that, and that the level of accountability tends to be fleeting. The truth is I have no interest in disconnecting media from players" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/5). In St. Louis, Derrick Goold wrote that with negotiations on a new CBA upcoming, an "area of those talks that gained unusual attention this past week was the media, specifically the people who tell the game's story and the access they have." Goold wrote of the report on closed clubhouses, "As a member of the BBWAA ... I can stress that statement has never come up in our conversations." Clark has "said several times ... that he has no interest in limiting such access." Goold: "Improving it, yes. Defining it, yes. Limiting, no" (ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH, 3/5).
ROSTER MOVES: In Boston, Nick Cafardo reported that as the MLBPA and owners negotiate a new CBA, it is "almost certain that September rosters will no longer be able to expand to 40." Both sides "have long wanted September to be the same as any other month." The "only compromise that could be reached is if rosters were slightly expanded (to maybe 28)" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/6).
