GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- When Rob Manfred became MLB’s commissioner in January of 2015, he inherited a game that had labor peace, a strong PED program and was making a lot of money. One of the main reasons why was because of the work Manfred did as former Commissioner Bud Selig’s lead negotiator in all things baseball.
Manfred’s agenda when he started the job was to increase youth involvement in baseball and improve pace of play. The pace of play platform irritated some people, but it was hardly the second coming of the Mitchell Report.
Six years later, Manfred is a man facing heat from all sides.
Players across both leagues are openly criticizing him for his handling of the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal. Mike Trout, the best player in the game, who rarely says boo off the field, ripped him for letting the Astros skate. Players have chastised commissioners before, but never to this degree and never with such passion.
Owners aren’t happy because they feel he let Houston’s owner Jim Crane off easy. Fans aren’t happy because he feels he gave cheating ballplayers a free pass. It doesn’t matter that the only reason MLB got to the bottom of Houston’s wrongdoing was because it gave the players immunity -- with permission from the players association -- when they were interviewed.
Sometimes scandals just wear themselves out in one or two news cycles. This keeps growing.
MLB is investigating the Red Sox for sign-stealing allegations in their run to the World Series in 2018. Who knows how much shrapnel will be scattered throughout the game with those findings?
Players, who felt victimized by the Astros’ cheating and their refusal to admit their World Series title is tainted, have threatened retaliation in games.
Then there’s the possibility of real trouble because a new basic agreement must be negotiated with the players union after the 2021 season. The union is not happy. The great players are still making big money, but more and more veteran free agents are getting squeezed out of the game.
Executives are building teams with younger players, whose salaries can be controlled to a certain extent despite the explosive nature of arbitration. The old battle between big and small market teams has reached a stage where teams think nothing of tanking for four or five years to collect revenue sharing money and high draft picks before trying to win again.
There’s nothing worse for players or fans than having teams surrender for four or five years to rebuild.
The players want changes. The question is will they have to strike as their predecessors did so many times in the past before both sides realized they were ruining the game and negotiated an era of peace that is in its 25th year?
All of this is happening on Manfred’s watch, which is not at all how it began.
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