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Big story today came out of Major League
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Baseball and the reports that there has
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been an a contentious meeting between
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Rob Manfred and the Phillies.
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Bryce Harper reportedly
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got into Rob Manfred's face and told
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him, "Get the hell out of the clubhouse
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when Manfred brought up the idea of a
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salary cap." Couple of things here.
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Number one, I have no problem with Bryce
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Harper doing this because Bryce Harper
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makes the most money in that clubhouse.
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Bryce Harper has the most financial
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security. And thus, the guys that have
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the most security with the most money
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and the most dollar signs or zeros
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should be the ones that stick up for
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everybody else because they can't be
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released. They can't be demoted. They
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can't be shunned. Bryce Harper's not
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going anywhere and he made all the cash.
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What you don't need is the really
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wealthy superstars being quiet because
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they already got theirs. Bryce Harper
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easily could sit back and go, "Man, I
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I'm paid until I retire. So, I don't
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care the salary cap or not. I'm this is
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not my fight. This is the fight for the
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mid-level veterans. This is the fight
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for the young players. This is a fight
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for the Paul Skees of the world." But
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instead, Harper was the one that got
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agitated and say, "Get the hell out of
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here." I got no problem with that. I'd
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rather see him verbal than him being
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Rob Manfred, it this suggests that there
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is going to be labor war of foot, which
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would be the worst thing for Major
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League Baseball. As somebody who grew up
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in the 80s and then lived through the
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devastation of the 1994 strike, there
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has never ever ever truly been a full, I
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buyback by the American public at large
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was the first of a couple of incidents,
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but the first really devastating
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incident of I can't trust this league
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anymore. don't trust the sport that I
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grew up loving. Not from me personally,
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but from the American public at large.
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It was the romanticism of baseball and
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that started to get popped with labor
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stoppages in the 70s and 80s. But they
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never missed the World Series. There
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were stoppages, there were strikes, but
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there was never ever a missed World
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Series. In '94, we had Tony Gwyn going
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for 400. We had Matt Williams of all
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people going for 60 or 61 home runs. And
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we had a potential Yankees and Expose
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World Series of which everybody wanted
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to see because that was before the
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reboot of the Yankees dynasty a couple
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When all of that went away, the American
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And then steroids happened and that
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eroded the trust in the game even more.
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And today we sit at a place where it's
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at a minimized cultural spot. Part of
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that is the sport itself.
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Part of that though is what happened in
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the 90s and the early 2000s.
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If Major League Baseball and Rob
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Manfred's two years ahead of this and
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going into the locker rooms and
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clubouses and saying we got to talk
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about the salary cap, it means he is
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bracing for the very worst. And this
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does not portend well. I do not like
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hearing that we are two years away from
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a labor stoppage and there's already
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these types of friction points.
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I don't know if the players will ever
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accept it. Bryce Harper in that rant
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said players are willing to miss 162. I
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don't know if the owners are going to
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say let's go big on a salary cap and
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then back off a little bit by suggesting
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okay we conceded to get a victory. We
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shall see. But this is the first of
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many, you can be sure, very intense,
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meetings between players and
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commissioner, players, front office
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players and owners. You can be sure of
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it. And the fact is Rob Manfred doesn't
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feel like a great guy to be carrying out
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unpopular opinions or unpopular plans.
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So, let's see how this goes. I got a
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feeling this is the start of many
