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Rob Manfred has been MLB commissioner for over 10 years, and he has been forced to make some tough decisions. Manfred's toughest job could be yet to come, as he tries to avoid a potential lockout at the end of the current collective bargaining agreement.
In a story written by Evan Drellich of The Athletic, Rob Manfred explained how he is taking a different approach ahead of those discussions. Instead of simply dealing with the union, Manfred is speaking to players directly.
“There seems to be kind of a mismatch between what we see at the union leadership level and what the players are thinking,” Manfred said. “The strategy is to get directly to the players.
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"I don’t think the leadership of this union is anxious to lead the way to change. So we need to energize the workforce in order to get them familiar with or supportive of the idea that maybe change in the system could be good for everybody.”
MLB owners are hoping to get a salary cap put in place in the next CBA, but that's something that the players are against. Rob Manfred has been trying to provide information to show players exactly where the money is coming from.
“People often say that when you make a (labor) deal bigger, it’s harder to get it done,” Manfred said. “This is one of those areas where a bigger deal, in terms of media, labor, revenue sharing, actually gives you trade-offs to accomplish things."
The MLB has seen top players such as Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani sign massive deals, but a large number of players have not seen a huge salary increase.
Rob Manfred announces major change to future MLB games
Commissioner Rob Manfred has made several rule changes since he took over the role, and he is going to implement a new system that will impact games. An automated system for balls and strikes will be put in place in 2026, and Manfred spoke about that process in early June.
"My single biggest concern is working through the process and deploying it in a way that's acceptable to the players," Manfred said.
"There's always going to be things around the edges that we need to work through and whatever, and I want them to feel like we respected the committee process and that there was a full airing of concerns about the system, and an attempt to address those concerns before we go forward."
This system has been tested over the last few years, and it was in place at MLB Spring Training in 2025. There will likely be some tweaks made after it rolls out, but Manfred is confident that it will work right away.
