There is “growing mutiny” inside the MLBPA as major- and minor-league player leadership confronted Exec Dir Tony Clark yesterday “urging him to replace” Deputy Exec Dir Bruce Meyer with former MLBPA lawyer Harry Marino, according to sources cited by Drellich & Rosenthal of THE ATHLETIC. A “long and sometimes heated” call included some of the 72 player reps from across both the majors and minors, though it did "not end with a clear resolution.” An informal vote was held on the call, but “no formal action was taken.” Meyer "was on the call" as well, Marino was "not, despite multiple players’ requesting the latter’s presence.” Meyer and Marino had a “strained relationship” when they worked together at the MLBPA on the minor-league collective bargaining agreement last year. A source said that Meyer on the call “accused Marino of coming for his job.” Drellich & Rosenthal noted Marino was approached by major-league players and agents who were “frustrated with the direction of the MLBPA.” Some players “want more money directed toward the union’s bargaining team.” Marino left the MLBPA last year after helping minor leaguers bargain their first minor league CBA. Previously, as the head of the nonprofit Advocates for Minor Leaguers, he was “instrumental in getting minor leaguers ready to unionize” (THE ATHLETIC, 3/18).
INSIDE THE CALL: ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan cites sources as saying that Clark “declined to levy a judgment on Meyer's future during the call.” Marino had “generated support among players to take over the union's labor unit -- which he pledged to expand with veteran lawyers -- in recent weeks.” Sources said that players “lined up behind Marino, also calling for an audit of the MLBPA's spending.” Sources added that “multiple high-powered agents backed Marino's candidacy” with the perception that Meyer was “ideologically aligned” with agent Scott Boras. Players said that on the call, Meyer “vociferously denied that being the case” and “advocated for his work” since being hired in 2018. The players added that the discussion about Meyer's future was “animated and at times argumentative -- and the lack of a resolution frustrated some who had backed Marino.” Sources said that late in the call, players “requested that Marino be looped in to make his case as deputy executive director” but Clark did "not accede to it.” They added that the potential appointment of Marino was “not supported by all the players on the call,” as some “questioned his age and installing someone with a relative lack of experience in a high-ranking position to negotiate with a veteran labor team at MLB” (ESPN.com, 3/19).
