MLB and the Players Association, at long last, reached a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 2022-26 period on Thursday, after a week full of negotiations.
The last owners’ offer, which came in the afternoon around 3 p.m. ET, wasn’t universally liked by the Players Association, but in the end, it was voted, sealed, and approved.
The Players Association comprises eight executive board members and 30 team representatives, for a total of 38.
The eight members of the executive board are Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Zack Britton, Andrew Miller, Gerrit Cole, Jason Castro, Marcus Semien, and James Paxton.
Each team has one representative.
The eight members of the executive board voted against the offer, feeling the competitive balance tax (CBT) numbers weren’t quite enough.
Team Representatives Were Responsible For CBA Proposal Being Approved
However, 26 of the 30 player representatives approved the offer, and a new CBA was announced shortly after.
Some people couldn’t help but think there was an internal division inside the MLBPA, but that’s far from the case, at least according to union leader Tony Clark.
“You call it division, I call it a healthy dialogue and conversation,” Tony Clark says of the vote split between subcommittee and player reps. “Rest assured the interests were the same in improving the system as a whole.”
“You call it division, I call it a healthy dialogue and conversation,” Tony Clark says of the vote split between subcommittee and player reps. “Rest assured the interests were the same in improving the system as a whole.”
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) March 11, 2022
Clark talked to the media on Friday, a day after MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred did.
Clark is probably right: most of the members of the executive board, including Scherzer and Lindor, were seen reporting to their respective training camps.
There should be no bad blood between those eight players and the rest of the voices in the MLBPA.
It’s time to play baseball, and they will all be ready to contribute and give their best.
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