MLB News: Rob Manfred All But Admits to Stalling Tactics Ahead of 60 Game Season
June was a bad month for Major League Baseball. In a time of renewed social unrest and a pandemic to boot, baseball players and owners set out on a war of words over money and games. It truly was a bad look. All the while, fans were constantly fed the narrative that baseball is getting close to an agreement.
For weeks this went on, the bickering back and forth shifting from timely whispers to media types like Ken Rosenthal and Jeff Passan before devolving to childish official statements between MLB and the MLBPA.
Eventually, the two sides came together on a 60 game plan for the 2020 season. But there was time for much more… However, it turns out that 60 games was always the plan for Rob Manfred.
Full interview with @MLB commissioner #RobManfred: https://t.co/PxzOFaRXwy pic.twitter.com/w9ejbWHOV1
— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) July 1, 2020
In an interview with Dan Patrick on Wednesday morning, the commissioner all but confirmed that he’d been at least partly lying the whole time.
The reality is, we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went or any other factor — 60 games is the ‘outside of the envelope’ given the realities of the virus.
But what about all that talk for the better part of a month, Rob? What about the owners offering players more games if they took less pay? One example, on June 12, MLB presented a 72 game season proposal at a roughly 70% prorated salary.
You’re caught in your lies again, Robert.
It’s what you’d expect from a guy that gave a pass to the Astros and Red Sox for cheating. It’s not about what’s right, it’s about the bottom line.
— Scott Geairn (@ScottGeairn) July 1, 2020
On June 15, MLB hurler (and future Dodger?) Trevor Bauer slammed Rob Manfred on Twitter, essentially outing him on his stalling tactics.
isn’t it Rob? Because then you’d have to explain why you’re only going to impose 50 games when we could easily play 70+ right now. The tactic is to bluff with “no season” again and delay another 2-3 weeks until you clear the risk of “not negotiating in good faith by trying to
— Trevor Bauer (?????????) (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
obvious to everyone what you were trying to do. And no one would think that was a “representative season” so you’d risk not getting your precious playoff money. Nope, can’t have that. So gotta make it more than that. But not too many…you’ve gone as high as about 55 games full
— Trevor Bauer (?????????) (@BauerOutage) June 15, 2020
Bauer continued, but the point was made.
An MLB source told me that players saw the negotiations as a “PR battle and not even about baseball.” Moreover, that source said that players “all just think he’s a bad dude now, no other way to spin it.” This is coming from your players, Rob… how do you think fans feel to now know you lied and stalled and are now lying again?
The players could have played more games if they took less money, right? Settling at 60 games was never about the virus, it was always about the money.
You’ve lost the respect of the players, you didn’t give the owners what they wanted, and the fan base of the great game do not like you one iota. At least the game times are slightly shorter, right?
NEXT: Rob Manfred Cancelled Minor League Baseball Season
I actually respect him for admitting this and letting it be known to the public the true nature of this league
I mean it’s better than not knowing I guess. At least now we know what’s up with these people instead of being lied to
Manfred deserves no respect for anything.
What a scumbag you are , Rob!
So I guess you’d rather not know how shady your league is? It’s rare that people at the top would actually admit to something like this and be honest with the fans so they can make their own educated decision on whether to continue supporting it
This guy needs to be history. What baseball needs is someone that has character and integrity and says what he means and means what he says. The union and management need to respect one another and they both need a commissioner that leads them in the proper direction.
Deal honestly with each other….learn to give a little if necessary, always working for what’s best for the game. Kinda like running out a ground ball.
Don Miller for Commissioner!! 😉
Being honest about being dishonest is not anything to respect. Manfred is corrupt and the corruptible make everything they do, dirty. The trash (Manfred) started to stink years ago and should have been thrown out then, but as many of the owners are just as dirty, no one noticed the smell. Can’t wait to celebrate when he is gone…
It’s no different than what’s going on in the White House but you guys love that. Dipsh*t Donald puts it all out there in his tweets and imbecilic speeches and phone calls no different than what manfred just did. It’s funny how you people have a brain when it comes to the baseball commissioner but not other things
Let’s leave the toxicity of politics out of here. It’s bad enough with Mighty Manfred, the Blunder Hog.