Unrest in the MLBPA: Players move to oust union’s No. 2

[soxhop411]

https://theathletic.com/5352704/2024/03/18/mlbpa-unrest-players-bruce-meyer/?source=user_shared_article

There’s a growing mutiny inside the Major League Baseball Players Association. Major- and minor-league player leadership confronted executive director Tony Clark on Monday evening, urging him to replace his second-in-command, deputy director Bruce Meyer, with a former MLBPA lawyer, Harry Marino, people briefed on the call who were not authorized to speak publicly said. An informal vote was held on the call, but no formal action was taken.

The long and sometimes heated call included some of the 72 player representatives from across both the majors and minors. The call did not end with a clear resolution, however. Clark called the meeting after a text chain among player reps doubting Meyer circulated, a person briefed on the meeting said.

Meyer was on the call Monday 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. Meyer on the call accused Marino of coming for his job, a person briefed on the call said.

Many players and agents have long grumbled about union leadership, suspecting that agent Scott Boras has outsized influence, which Boras and union leadership have always denied. But player agents have maintained those complaints for years, particularly in regard to the fortunes of baseball’s middle class.

“It’s absurd,” Meyer said in 2021 of the Boras allegations. “The players run the union. Scott’s obviously an important agent to the extent he represents a lot of players, and we talk to Scott just like we talk to any agent who wants to talk to us.

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.

Free agency has been a struggle this winter for players outside the cream of the crop, including for Boras clients. Teams other than the Dodgers have spent less than $2 billion combined so far, after clubs spent $3.9 billion a year ago, per Spotrac. With the Dodgers included, club spending is around $2.8 billion this winter — or closer to $2.5 billion when Shohei Ohtani’s contract is adjusted to present value.

Meyer joined the MLBPA in 2018 and was charged with toughening up the group for the 2021-22 negotiations after the union fared poorly in collective bargaining in the previous two deals, and his arrival might have saved Clark’s job. The major-league CBA, at least until this winter, had seemed to be bringing positive returns. Clark, Meyer and the players appeared to make significant gains during the 2021-22 lockout.

iow boras has too much influence on the union

 

[mauf]

I never heard of Harry Marino before yesterday. It’s possible he’s just a blowhard, but the way people describe him sounds a lot like a young Marvin Miller.

With a union that’s getting them a smaller share of league revenue than their NFL and NBA counterparts, it’s not surprising that players are unhappy. Baseball’s near-term economics look tough, because cord-cutting, so it will be hard for whoever succeeds Tony Clark to notch any big wins, but I do think the MLBPA would benefit from new leadership.

 

[grimshaw]

Anything that results in Scott Boras getting neutered would be fine with me. At least he's getting up there in age (71) but he'll probably work until he drops dead.

 

[trs]

I wonder how much of this is linked to the main board discussion about the frailty of the modern pitcher. It seems like we're entering a perfect storm for the owners right now. They still enjoy 6 years of artificially depressed salaries for players, during which time we're seeing at least pitchers get injured at great and greater rates. I tried to find a quick calculation of rookie players' average age, but couldn't find anything too recent. I did find that the average length of time it takes for players to make the majors has gone up steadily and is now around 4.5 years (View: https://medium.com/coinmonks/the-changing-look-of-mlb-rookies-ebbb650d7c01)
Obviously it depended on when a player was drafted, but even if a player got drafter right out of high school, that would put their debut at their age 23 season. Add 6 years of cost-control and you get to age 30 before you enter free-agency, and that seems to check out.

This is all to say that if players are more likely to get injured now than in the past (at least pitchers), then paying a premium for a "sure-bet" free agent at age 30 rather than looking to develop the farm system and hope for cost-controlled production from 23-30 year olds becomes far less enticing. From a player's perspective, they agree to play for far below open-market value for 6 years (when they're good), with the idea of a relative bonanza once free agency hits. However, this won't work if owner's won't pay the premium for what used to be thought as "insurance" -- "hey this guy was real good for 6 years, we should pay more for him than we would with less prior evidence of excellence." (I write dialogue good).

Anyway, I can see why the players are concerned. The current salary structure does not work if signing 30 year-olds becomes an avoidable and genuinue risk. I also realize that this angle is not the one presented in The Athletic article, but that article also seems to capture the concern of a system that only rewards the very top at the cost of the "middle class." Yes, clubs have spent $4.8B this free-agency, but nearly 20% of that was on one player...

 

[Max Power]

I think that's really what it's all about. You can see some of it in the complaining about the pitch clock, too. They think the union was rolled by the league and the pitch clock was forced on them and now it's causing injuries. It's total bullshit, but players are getting hurt more than ever and they're looking for someone to blame.

Boras has only ever looked out for the biggest deal for the biggest stars. He's a believer in a rising tide lifting all ships, but it doesn't work out like that when most players never even make it to free agency. The union had a chance to make substantive changes in the salary structure of the game in the last CBA with younger players getting paid more, even knowing it would cost free agents some money, but it didn't seem like they pushed for it. All that came out of that deal was a bonus pool for top performing pre-arb players. The next labor agreement is going to be a very difficult one and I hope there's fairer compensation for younger players that comes out of it.

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

20-something salaries need to go waaay up, and 30-something salaries relative to 20-something salaries waaay down.

It strikes me as crazy they don't want to find a way to try to get a percentage of revenue as a minimum.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

Why not put all the frustration at Tony Clark?

 

[rmurph3]

20-something salaries need to go waaay up, and 30-something salaries relative to 20-something salaries waaay down.

It strikes me as crazy they don't want to find a way to try to get a percentage of revenue as a minimum.

Easy to say in a vacuum, but don't forget that minor leaguers weren't part of the MLBPA last cycle, so it's not clear that the motivations of the then-MLBPA membership aligned with your stated goals above. I'm not even sure I agree with Max Power that "the union had a chance to make substantive changes" last cycle... clearly the union did prioritize some movement of dollars to young players because they made up some ground in that area. But many in the MLBPA were beyond the window of benefitting from those changes, so you never know how much further they were willing to go to benefit those that come after them, rather than themselves.

 

[nattysez]

I'm surprised the article doesn't mention JD Davis. I think more than a few players were very unhappy about how the Giants treated him, and were suprised to discover that a player could go to arbitration, win, and then be cut and (1) the team that cut him doesn't pay any meaningful penalty and (2) a new team that signs him can sign him for any amount -- including an amount much less than the arb award.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I'm surprised the article doesn't mention JD Davis. I think more than a few players were very unhappy about how the Giants treated him, and were suprised to discover that a player could go to arbitration, win, and then be cut and (1) the team that cut him doesn't pay any meaningful penalty and (2) a new team that signs him can sign him for any amount -- including an amount much less than the arb award.

I'm not sure why they should have been surprised by the Davis' contract situation because that's the way arbitrated contracts have worked for a long time. It's not a new thing, it's just a very infrequent thing.

 

[moondog80]

I'm not sure why they should have been surprised by the Davis' contract situation because that's the way arbitrated contracts have worked for a long time. It's not a new thing, it's just a very infrequent thing.

I agree. It's not some loophole, it's an exercise of the rule just as it was intended to be. A rule the players agreed to. Leaving a player in AAA that would otherwise be in the majors just long enough to avoid a year of service time seems much more exploitive to me.

 

[nattysez]

I'm not sure why they should have been surprised by the Davis' contract situation because that's the way arbitrated contracts have worked for a long time. It's not a new thing, it's just a very infrequent thing.

"Surprised" was bad word choice on my part. As you guys said above, it's more that it's rarely used rather than that they were surprised that this "out" existed. That said, Baby Yaz seems interested in getting this reconsidered.

“He earned his money. He earned the raise,” infielder Wilmer Flores said. “This doesn’t happen very often. It’s weird when it happens, and it sucks when it happens. I’m glad he’s back playing baseball. He’s a good guy, good teammate, good player. But I think they should address it because it’s not fair. He had a good season.”

“A loophole” is what Giants reliever Tyler Rogers called it. Rogers also was eligible for arbitration but settled for $3.2 million, a raise from $1.675 million.

“Anytime somebody is expecting a certain salary, no matter what job it is, and it gets taken away from him, that’s tough to deal with,” Rogers said. “But it looks like he’s got a great opportunity in Oakland. Hopefully he can put together a good season and parlay it into a nice deal in free agency.”
Some players anticipate the issue will be discussed in negotiations for the next CBA, which would start with the 2027 season.

“Maybe this will create some really beneficial discussion for all of us as players to figure out how we can make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone else because J.D. definitely doesn’t deserve it,” Yastrzemski said. “It’s proven through a trial that you should be earning a certain amount, and then somehow you end up making 50% of that. There’s math there that doesn’t really add up.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/giants-players-react-j-d-davis-not-19122768.php

 

[soxhop411]

View: https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1770175801851343218

Well.. It seems like things are about to get a bit more interesting

Agent Scott Boras on Tuesday morning railed against Harry Marino’s attempted ouster of Major League Baseball Players Association leadership, saying Marino and his supporters had undertaken a “coup” that should “never be done.”

Marino shot back that Boras’ support of Clark should be considered “alarming” and insinuated that Boras’ effectiveness was waning.

Some player leaders inside the union are aggressively pushing for Marino, who briefly worked at MLBPA, to replace Bruce Meyer, the union’s deputy director. If Marino and his supporters are successful, it looks increasingly likely that Meyer’s exit would also mean executive director Tony Clark would be out as well. Clark convened a video call that lasted nearly three hours on Monday night where player leaders fought over Meyer’s future and Marino’s viability.

“If you have great ideas, and you want those ideas to be promulgated in a manner that is beneficial to the union and the players they represent, you go to Tony Clark with your plan,” Boras told The Athletic. “You discuss it with him first, and the many lawyers in the union. If you have issues with the union and you want to be involved with the union, you take your ideas to them. You do not take them publicly, you do not create this coup d’etat and create really a disruption inside the union. If your goal is to help players, it should never be done this way.”

Said Marino in a statement to The Athletic: “The players who sought me out want a union that represents the will of the majority. Scott Boras is rich because he makes — or used to make — the richest players in the game richer. That he is running to the defense of Tony Clark and Bruce Meyer this morning is genuinely alarming.”

The discord comes as the overall down winter for free agents has banded together some agents and players who have long been unhappy with the union, but had never arrived at the point of action prior to this year’s market downturn.

As the MLBPA and the player and agent communities remained in a state of limbo Tuesday, one thing growing clear is that if Marino has enough support to be installed in a leadership position, it would likely mean the exit of not only Meyer, but Clark as well, according to people briefed on the unfolding drama. Meyer and a union spokesperson declined comment Tuesday.

A middle-ground scenario where Clark stays as the boss and works side-by-side with Marino sounded unlikely Tuesday, according to people briefed on the matter. Both Clark and Meyer grew to greatly distrust Marino in the time they worked together. A scenario where Clark stays and Meyer exits without Marino assuming a prominent role in the union did not appear likely either.

A complicated political backdrop sits behind Marino’s gambit. A gaggle of agents who dislike Boras and current union leadership argue the union shows favoritism to Boras, a charge Boras, Clark and Meyer have long denied.

https://theathletic.com/5353993/2024/03/19/scott-boras-mlbpa-tony-clark-coup/?access_token=223370&redirected=1

 

[soxhop411]

Feels like we officially have a mutiny/coup afoot in the MLBPA

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

Why not put all the frustration at Tony Clark?

When everyone gets hot, he stays cool.

Good old thermos.

 

[jon abbey]

View: https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1770634835691712695

 

[soxhop411]

View: https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1770634835691712695

With the Ohtani news and this drama it feels like i am watching an episode of the young and the restless

 

[DeadlySplitter]

There we go, going after Clark after all. I do think he's a nothingburger of a union leader.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

View: https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1770795831706226823

 

[HangingW/ScottCooper]

I have no idea how Tony Clark still has this job.