Manfred said the dissatisfaction relates to those on the free agent market who may not be top playersGETTY IMAGES
MLB's current CBA runs until '21, but Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he is "open to discussing the situation immediately," according to Hayden Bird of the BOSTON GLOBE. Manfred, speaking at the Boston College Chief Executives Club luncheon moderated by Red Sox President & CEO Sam Kennedy, said he is "happy to have that conversation, happy to have it now, not even near expiration," but the MLBPA has to "identify for us what it is that you see as the problem with the system." Bird noted Manfred "tried to outline the problem" with slow free agency markets as he "sees it from the players' perspective." Manfred: "In our current situation, I think that the players are frustrated by certain developments that they have seen under this agreement. And I think of those developments this way: We're spending the same percentage of our revenue on players that we've been spending for a decade and a half, so the money that's going to them on aggregate is the same." More Manfred: "We did spend $630 million on two players last week, set some new records in terms of highest annual salary and total value. Players are still getting these mega-contracts, so the dissatisfaction relates to individuals that are getting into the free agent market that may not be those premier guys, and what they're getting in that market" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/7).
WORKING WITH THE WEST WING: Manfred said that President Obama's administration was "more consistent to deal with" compared to President Trump. The AP's Jimmy Golen noted MLB in December announced a new deal that would "allow Cuban players to sign major league contracts without defecting," which came about despite Trump's "pledge to undo" Obama's '14 decision to open relations with the country. Manfred said, "It has been more challenging in terms of working with the Trump administration. We've worked with them already on several projects. It's been a little difficult but generally positive as well" (AP, 3/6).
GOING GLOBAL: Manfred said that the "strong passion for baseball in countries like Japan and Korea" underscores MLB's "viability as a worldwide product." He said, "We think we have the greatest game in the world. You could have places around the world where you have a great domestic product." Manfred also said that the league recently implemented a program at 300 schools in India to "help cultivate a culture of baseball there" (MLB.com, 3/6).
