NEWSLETTER
Two years ago at this time, we were collectively exhaling about the end of a bitter lockout, the signing of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and about the fast-approaching season that had once looked to be in serious peril. It was such a relief because the three months that had preceded it – frankly, the two years of acrimony that came to a head during the pandemic, too – were absolutely miserable.
We wanted to never, ever, ever think about lockouts or strikes or negotiations or CBAs or labor disputes or ownership avarice again.
But, you know, that’s not how this works.
The current CBA runs through the 2026 season, which means we aren’t that far off from the time that each side will being setting down its priorities internally for the next CBA, with informal talks to begin as soon as next year.
The palace intrigue, then, is already starting at the Major League Baseball Players Association:
Whoa. This is obviously some deep-in-the-weeds stuff, but it’s quite significant. Meyer was brought in, theoretically, to be a tougher negotiator than Clark had been, and most thought the most recent CBA marked a relative win for the players. Clearly some do not see it that way, and want to change course before the next round of negotiating begins. It’s unquestionable that teams have not spent as aggressively this offseason, and concerns about the impact of the CBA are legitimate.
That mention of “high-powered agents” does not escape notice, of course, given the way things have played out this offseason for several of Scott Boras’s clients. We also know that Boras represented many of the players on the executive subcommittee in 2022, who voted AGAINST approving the CBA (the players as a whole overrode them, essentially). So you have Boras and some of his biggest and most influential clients having been, presumably, upset about the way the lockout ended and CBA came to be, and then you have some big-time free agents have a very rough winter. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to connect those dots, even as I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to note that most of the gains in the CBA were allocated to non-top-tier players – the guys who may not have as much of a voice in these kinds of matters.
Let me be more plain: the interests of a Max Scherzer type player, who has entered or is on the cusp of free agency, do not always perfectly align with the interests of an up-down reliever who will never reach six years of service time, but who nevertheless is trying to make as much money as he can while his arm is still attached. So I get a little nervous for the younger, less-experienced, less-well-compensated players when I start hearing about the potential for these kinds of changes to be driven by the most powerful players and agent(s).
That said, the guy apparently being targeted for the job, Harry Marino, has for years been one of the loudest and best advocates for minor league players – the guys who are even LESS cared for and have LESS power than the up-down reliever I was talking about. So maybe, regardless of how it happens or who drives it, Marino would be a good voice to have in the room? Moreover, Passan’s report suggests there are some who believe Meyer is aligned with Boras, and that’s part of the reason they want change. Clearly, these things are complicated.
I don’t think anyone wants to start thinking about another CBA fight. I sure as hell don’t. But unfortunately I’m either smart enough or experienced enough or stupid enough to know that the financial landscape of this sport – like many other entertainment industries – is changing so rapidly that we are in for another bitter fight in a couple years. So getting things lined up now is of critical importance if the players and the owners want any chance of navigating waters that are probably only going to get even choppier by mid-2026.
