NEW YORK \u2014 Players are \u201cjustifiably outraged\u201d at Major League Baseball over the double dealings a player agent had with top league officials, including commissioner Rob Manfred, the players\u2019 union said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The union accused Manfred of downplaying and mischaracterizing events that led the MLB Players Association to decertify player agent Jim Murray<\/a> for four years, calling the episode \u201cextremely revealing\u201d of the league\u2019s own strategies.<\/p>\n In a 71-page notice of discipline it distributed to players this month, the Players Association detailed myriad back-channeling communications Murray had with Manfred and other league officials during sensitive negotiations in 2020, when the players and owners were discussing what players should be paid during the COVID-19 pandemic. At one point, Murray advised Manfred not to give in to union head Tony Clark.<\/p>\n Manfred on Wednesday positioned the communications as routine, and the union shot back that they were anything but.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand the union\u2019s take on that situation,\u201d Manfred said during a Wednesday news conference. \u201cAll I can tell you is that from the day I first set foot in Major League Baseball in 1986, every time there was a negotiation, there were conversations where agents reached out to owners, agents reached out to the commissioner\u2019s office, the union reached out to owners. It has always happened. I did not regard those conversations to be different from any of the others that have taken place over the period of time that I\u2019ve been involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Responded the union in a statement to The Athletic: \u201cMr. Manfred\u2019s comments suggesting there\u2019s \u2018nothing to see here\u2019 both mischaracterize the facts and are extremely revealing of the league\u2019s general approach to labor negotiations. There is nothing \u2018business as usual\u2019 about an agent acting as a \u2018mole\u2019 for the commissioner\u2019s office, providing highly confidential information, circumventing the will of the players\u2019 elected representatives, encouraging the league to reject union proposals and helping the league draft proposals and propaganda points. The agent community and players are justifiably outraged at MLB\u2019s role in this activity and its attempts to circumvent the union.\u201d<\/p>\n Manfred spoke to reporters Wednesday at MLB headquarters, where MLB\u2019s owners gathered this week to talk about their approach to next year\u2019s labor negotiations, among other issues.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause labor is closer now, labor was a topic of conversation,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cBut those conversations have not progressed to the point where there\u2019s anything that should be said publicly.\u201d<\/p>\n MLB and the Players Association recently held a preliminary meeting<\/a> to talk about the collective bargaining agreement, which expires in December 2026. Manfred declined to detail the discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re right at the beginning of kind of some informal meetings,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cI have always believed that bargaining is best if it\u2019s conducted privately. I have great respect for the MLBPA, and I\u2019m not going to get into characterizing those kinds of informal conversations \u2014 just a really bad first step.\u201d<\/p>\n Manfred appeared to try to temper concerns that the fight when the CBA expires in December 2026 will be so antagonistic that games will be missed in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has never been a lost game since I became involved as an employee of baseball, and it is my goal to get this next one done keeping that record intact,\u201d Manfred said, repeating a line he has used in the past. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work to be done between now and then, but that\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n