MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 21: Shohei Ohtani (R) #16 of Team Japan is awarded the trophy by Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred (L) after defeating Team USA in the World Baseball Classic Championship at loanDepot park on March 21, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is meeting directly with players to push for a salary cap, according to a union official who warns membership is showing ‘the right amount of skepticism’ over the notoriously contentious issue.
“It’s kind of a continuation of a pattern which has gone on for decades, which is, the other side… tries to go directly to players, tries to create divisions between players,” Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) deputy director Bruce Meyer told Foul Territory.
“The league and some of the individual owners have made no secret that they would like to see a system that they tried to get for 50 years, which is a salary-cap system.”
The 1994-95 MLB strike, which cost fans the 1994 World Series, was fought over the same issues. Owners attempted to play the 1995 season with replacement players, only to reach an agreement with the union on a new labor deal that was void of any salary cap. Since then, the two sides have worked out five collective bargaining agreements, most recently in 2022. That deal is set to expire on December 1, 2026.
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Currently, the MLB is the only American sports league without a salary cap. The NFL and NHL both have hard salary caps, whereas the NBA has a soft salary cap that allows for various exceptions.
Manfred has been speaking to individual teams for the third consecutive season to convince players to make significant changes to the sport’s economic landscape, according to The Athletic.
“The pitch is like, ‘Hey, this is really good for the players,” Meyer said. “One of the things players immediately seize on is, ‘Well, if this is so good for us, then why are they pushing it so hard? Why do they want it so desperately? Why did the other leagues lock out players to get it?”
“Guys immediately understand that the reason they want that system is not because they want to pay players more.”
Manfred isn’t publicly demanding a salary cap, but he hasn’t exactly dismissed the idea either.
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