MLB Salary Cap? Lockout? Rob Manfred, MLBPA’s Tony Clark Talk Balance

ATLANTA – As MLB commissioner Rob Manfred looks to improve competitive balance in the league, Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLB Players Association, made his position on the possibility of a salary cap abundantly clear on Tuesday.

“This is institutionalized collusion,” Clark said. “That’s what a salary cap is.”

Manfred and Clark separately spoke to members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America hours before Tuesday’s All-Star Game. They touched on a variety of topics, including the possibility of a lockout after baseball’s labor deal expires on Dec. 1, 2026. 

Baseball is the only North American sport that does not have a salary cap, largely because the players’ union has remained unified and steadfast in its opposition, while MLB owners have continued to push for it several times since the 1970s. Their most recent serious push for a salary cap was in 1994, when the sport’s economics led to a player’s strike and the cancellation of that year’s World Series. 

“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap is not about growing the game,” Clark said. “That’s not what a cap is about. As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That’s what a cap is about. If there are ways that we need to improve the existing system to polish some of the rough edges that otherwise exist, we have made proposals to do that. We will continue to make proposals to do that, and believe that that’s the best way to go.”

Even though top leaders in the players’ union have publicly stated that Manfred is pushing for a salary cap as he meets with teams for the third straight year, the commissioner denied that notion on Tuesday.

“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred said. “Literally, what I say to them is, I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. 

“I then identify a second problem that we need to work together. And that is that there are fans, and a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”

The Mets’ payroll is only surpassed by the Dodgers among the MLB ranks. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

“I’ve never used the word salary within one of cap. What I do say to them is, in addressing this competitive issue that’s real, you should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a player’s perspective. My only goal there is not to convince them of one system or another, but is to convince them that everybody going to the table with an open mind to try to address a problem that’s fan-driven, leads to a better collective bargaining process and a better outcome.” 

Manfred has expressed concern over the way fans view the disparity in payrolls and revenues across MLB. The New York Mets’ payroll ($332 million), bankrolled by the richest owner in the sport, Steve Cohen, is the second-highest in MLB behind the Los Angeles Dodgers ($341 million). On the complete other end of the spectrum this season are the Miami Marlins, with a payroll of $67 million. 

The commissioner has maintained that fans of small-market teams, like the Pittsburgh Pirates, view the apparent lack of equality as unfair, because someone like Cohen, who has a net worth north of $21 billion, can spend his unlimited resources to build a better team, while other clubs don’t have the same financial flexibility to improve their rosters or even keep their star players when they reach free agency. 

It’s important to note that, since MLB is a private business, teams are not required to share their finances with the public. As such, the players’ union believes that teams have the money, but they choose not to spend it.

“A salary cap, historically, has limited contract guarantees associated,” Clarke said. “Literally, [it] pits one player against another. And that’s often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system.

“It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about fair versus not. 

“There are no illusions of grandeur here in regards to what it is worth hearing and what it is the interest from the other side seems to be. As a result, players are being told as much.”

Based on how far apart the two sides are, roughly 16 months before the labor deal expires, it is a strong indication that this could be baseball’s most hostile collective bargaining negotiation since 1994-95, when it cost the league games on the schedule. Though there was a lockout when the previous labor deal expired in Dec. 2021 and, as a result, spring training was delayed in 2022, the league and the union reached a deal that March without any games being missed. 

“We may be sitting down at a table, and we may find ourselves at a work stoppage at 12:01, December 1st of next year,” Clark said. “[Players] are preparing for that while hoping that is indeed not the case.” 

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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