Tony Clark Announces MLBPA Opening Round of Talks Will Attempt to Restore 'Meaningful' Free Agency
By Parker White
The labor agreement between MLB and the MLBPA expires in December 2021, but at this moment, it appears the two sides are open to talking and negotiating early.
We'll see how that goes, but current head of the MLBPA, Tony Clark, has laid out some goals the players association is looking accomplish during the collective bargaining, including the restoration of "meaningful free agency."
MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark: "We are interested in restoring meaningful free agency." Union is beginning an unprecedented round of mid-term bargaining with the league. Uncertainty as to where those talks go.
— Eric Fisher (@EricFisherSBG) July 9, 2019
As you know, MLB free agency has been painfully slow over the last couple seasons, as star players like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and J.D. Martinez went unsigned after the new year and even into spring training. That's not a good look for baseball, especially considering these guys are stars in the sport.
This certainly needs to be amended if the league wants its offseason to generate as much buzz as the NFL and NBA.
MLBPA's Tony Clark: all the rabid excitement around the NBA free agency such as lots of offseason fan chatter, monitoring of flights/cars, etc., can happen in baseball. It just isn't in the current setup.
— Eric Fisher (@EricFisherSBG) July 9, 2019
In the end, the likes of Harper and Machado get paid, but it impacts middle-tier free agents and veterans who can still have an impact in the game, leading to short-term deals or minor-league deals for those deserving of more.
All in all, there should be more buzz surrounding the game in the offseason. Instead, it's a bunch of criticism from the national media, which adversely affects the game.