Rob Manfred has been a controversial character ever since taking over MLB as commissioner in charge. He made it clear he was going to do things differently ever since taking over the league in 2014. Commissioner Manfred has tried to reinvent the wheel during his administration. Things are no different before the start of the 2019 season as Manfred proposed a new set of changes to the MLB Players Association a few days ago.
Manfred The Madman
The commissioner has done it all. To start with, Manfred served as counselor to owners during the 1994 strike. The very same strike than crushed the Expos’ World Series hopes. Ten years later, Canada’s favorite team packed their bags and headed for Washington. After his interesting start to his baseball executive career, he assumed charge as Chief Operating Officer of MLB. His highlights as MLB’s COO include the largest mass suspension in the league’s history as 12 major leaguers were suspended for PED use. Among those penalized were Ryan Braun, former Ranger Nelson Cruz and most notably, Alex Rodriguez. He also threatened Rodriguez with a lifetime ban from baseball and later testified in his arbitration hearing. His latest tenure as Commissioner of Baseball has been an odd one, to say the least.
As acting commissioner, Manfred’s time in charge has not been all that great. This New York native assured both the Rays and the Athletics would get a new stadium. So far, not only have they not gotten new facilities, but he even crushed the Rays’ plans for a new stadium through a letter to county officials. Manfred has had a tricky relationship with Florida’s Big Fish as well. The commissioner raised some eyebrows allowing Derek Jeter and company to buy the Marlins only to dismantle them immediately. Let’s not forget about his obsession with “Pace of play”.
New Rules
Manfred made a few proposals to the Player’s Association. Those include shortening breaks between innings. Limiting rosters to only fourteen pitchers and, reducing mound visits from six to five. However, there is one proposal that has caused quite a stir among fans as the commissioner intends to make relievers face a minimum of three batters per outing. But why? Why is the commissioner doing this? You guessed it, because of the pace of play. If the MLBPA were to accept his proposals, Manfred will forget about implementing the pitch clock until 2022.
Truth is, fans do not care about the pace of play. New rules or not, baseball fans will still buy tickets and sit for three or more hours to watch a ballgame because they like it. If they did not, ballparks would be empty 162 days a year. MLB has a much bigger problem at their hands and the commissioner doesn’t seem to realize that.
The Elephant In The Room
As of late, people seem to think free agency was made up entirely out of two players: Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. Sure, they both signed huge long term contracts for a ton of money. Nonetheless, a couple of big deals do not fix MLB’s free agency crisis.
There are still many unsigned free agents in the market. Dallas Keuchel. Craig Kimbrel, Gio Gonzalez and, Jose Bautista are a few of the biggest names. Here is where the real problem lies: Unemployment is not good, it doesn’t matter if you play baseball for a living or work a 9 to 5 job sitting at a desk. How do you expect players to get signed when six years of MLB service time already took away at least half of their prime years? How are players supposed to find a job if owners are more concerned about losing in order to save some cash? In case that problem was not big enough, there is a much bigger one coming.
It is no secret that the MLBPA and the commissioner do not get along. Manfred’s ideas to speed up the game have not been well received by the players’ association. The Commissioner’s last move to please his obsession with the pace of play could be the last straw. A new collective bargain agreement is set to be signed in 2021. However, given the circumstances, it is possible that baseball could be heading towards a labor dispute.
Time To Face The Problem
Rob Manfred seems to live in a world of his own. A world in which the only problem is the speed of the game. He does not care about free agency because in his mind, that does not even exist, but it does. Trouble has a way to find people and the most powerful man in baseball is no exception to the rule. MLB can run away from it as much as they like but, sooner or later the will have to solve it. That could be next year or, in 2021 in the middle of a strike. It is up to Manfred to decide.
Grow a spine commissioner: Face the real problem