An altercation between MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Phillies star Bryce Harper made headlines in July, with the two-time MVP reportedly standing “nostril to nostril” with the commissioner and telling him he might “get the [expletive] out of our clubhouse” if he was going to speak about implementing a wage cap (per ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Manfred was holding his annual assembly with the Phillies’ gamers at Residents Financial institution Park.
Stories from Passan and the New York Submit’s Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman differ on when the confrontation occurred. Passan writes that Harper sat quietly for many of the assembly, which lasted over an hour, earlier than tensions boiled over and he approached the commissioner. In distinction, Heyman and Sherman write that his feedback got here “about 5 minutes into” Manfred’s opening remarks. No matter sure discrepancies, what’s clear is that, whereas Manfred by no means immediately talked about a wage cap, Harper believed it was implied. He felt strongly sufficient to assert that gamers “should not scared to lose 162 video games” of their battle towards a cap (per Passan). He additionally questioned what Manfred has ever executed “to learn the gamers” (per Heyman and Sherman). Regardless of Harper’s feedback, Manfred stayed to complete the assembly, doubling down on the significance of speaking about, in Passan’s phrases, “threats to MLB’s enterprise and methods to develop the sport.”
Afterwards, Harper’s teammate Nick Castellanos described the ordeal to ESPN as intense and passionate, and he appeared to verify it went each methods. “The commissioner [was] giving it again to Bryce and Bryce [was] giving it again to the commissioner,” he defined.
Afterwards, Manfred declined to remark to ESPN or the New York Submit, whereas Harper later advised reporters (together with Bob Cooney of NBC Sports activities Philadelphia): “You guys noticed what was within the article. However I received’t be moving into the main points of what occurred or how I felt or the rest like that…I’m simply attempting to fret about baseball…Everyone noticed the phrases and all the pieces that occurred. I don’t wish to say something greater than that.”
Harper continued: “I’ve talked labor and I’ve executed it in a method that I don’t assume I would like to speak to the media about it…I’ve all the time been very vocal, simply not in a method that individuals can see.”
Yesterday, nevertheless, Manfred spoke at Wrigley Subject to announce that the Cubs would host the 2027 All-Star Sport, and he lastly addressed his dispute with Harper, claiming: “It was a person choosing a selected technique to specific himself, and I don’t assume you want to make extra out of that than that” (per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic).
Maybe that’s true. But, there isn’t any denying it could be in Manfred’s finest pursuits to downplay his altercation with one of the crucial influential gamers within the league. It’s additionally in his finest pursuits to consider this was an remoted incident of an “particular person” expressing himself quite than a mirrored image of what number of gamers really feel throughout all 30 groups.
With the present collective bargaining settlement between MLB and the MLBPA set to run out on December 1, 2026, it’s no secret that a number of homeowners are occupied with instituting a wage cap. Certainly, in response to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, the MLBPA believes Manfred is pushing for a cap in his clubhouse conferences this yr – even when he isn’t utilizing these precise phrases. Unsurprisingly, the gamers affiliation is strongly towards a cap, arguing it could primarily serve to artificially suppress participant salaries quite than enhance parity across the league or assist to develop the sport.
Chatting with reporters forward of the All-Star Sport final month, MLBPA govt director Tony Clark described a wage cap as “institutionalized collusion” (per Castillo). “A cap isn’t about rising the sport,” he stated. “A cap is about franchise values and income. That’s what a cap is about.”
What’s extra, whereas Manfred won’t be keen to say “wage cap,” he has already talked about the potential of a lockout. Again in March, Clark stated that he’s anticipating a piece stoppage after the 2026 season, and plenty of across the league are involved about the potential of contentious CBA negotiations consuming into the 2027 marketing campaign. It’s not laborious to guess what the sticking level in these negotiations is likely to be.
Castellanos advised Hannah Keyser and Zach Crizer of The Bandwagon (who first reported on the “heated” assembly between Manfred and the Phillies) that the commissioner was “very eloquently talking round” the concept of a wage cap. He later stated to ESPN: “Rob appears to be in a fairly determined place on how necessary it’s to get this wage cap as a result of he’s floating the phrase ’lockout’ two years prematurely of our collective bargaining settlement [expiring].”
Manfred started holding annual conferences with every workforce’s gamers three years in the past, following the lockout that lasted a lot of the 2021-22 offseason and delayed the beginning of the 2022 marketing campaign. One motive for these conferences? He desires to speak on to the gamers quite than have his messages undergo the MLBPA. Throughout a current investor occasion held by the Braves, he stated: “The technique is to get on to the gamers. I don’t assume the management of this union is anxious to paved the way to vary. So we have to energize the workforce so as to get them accustomed to or supportive of the concept possibly change within the system may very well be good for everyone” (per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich).
One technique to learn these feedback? Manfred is aware of the MLBPA is staunchly against a wage cap. It definitely appears as if he’s hoping to pit the union’s membership towards the union’s management, in an effort the push by adjustments that will, in Clark’s phrases: “add to the homeowners’ income and franchise values, whereas prohibiting golf equipment from absolutely competing to place the very best product on the sector for the followers and limiting participant compensation, ensures and suppleness” (per Drellich).
If Harper’s response is any indication, Manfred won’t be having as a lot success connecting with gamers as he hoped, whilst he has, at instances, been accompanied at his clubhouse conferences by revered former gamers within the Commissioner’s Ambassador Program (CAP). However at the very least for now, the commissioner insists it’s not that critical: “I believe extra has been made out of this than must be made out of it. Bryce expressed his views. On the finish of the assembly, we shook palms and went our separate methods. Not all that important” (per Andrew Seligman of the Related Press).
Photograph in article courtesy of Invoice Streicher, Imagn Photos.
