1-Man’s Opinion Column-Wednesday “What the Commissioner Said-What I Believe”

Posted by on July 13th, 2016  •  0 Comments  • 

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“Commissioner Speaks-So Do I”

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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred….in All Star Game interview talks about hot-button issues in baseball…and my response.

…MLB will not consider increasing pay for minor leaguers-calls it an apprenticeship.
—Minors leaguers-especially in Class A-AA are starving…Baseball is 11B-industry…Minimum salaries for each level should be raised…Players are making below the poverty level, an average of (11,400) to play six months in A-ball…..Rookie League players get (1150) a month…Low A (1300)…..High A (1500)….AA (1700)…AAA (2150) per month….Major league veterans get a minimum salary of 505,000 a year, surely not at the poverty level….It’s disgraceful.

…MLB pleased with growth of minorities in game..20% of 1st round picks drafted this year were black.
—Getting to the majors is a long-slow process in development. It’s different than NFL draft picks, who all get paydays and spots on rosters and developmental squads…African-Americans gravitated to other sports for an extended period….rebuilding the base numbers of minorities will take more time.

…MLB disappointed ‘glaring lack’ of Latin managers.
—Baseball should introduce a ‘Rooney Rule’ for interviews for every job that opens…There are no Latin’s managing in the big leagues this year….but there are a flood of Latin’s running minor league teams.

…No expansion on horizon till Stadium issues in Oakland-Tampa Bay resolved.
—There do not seem to be very many viable markets, nor stadiums that could host a franchise….What baseball should do is become the financing partner for the A’s and Rays, with bank loans to build stadium-and take back some of the early profits as a way to fix the ailing teams…The NFL G-4 Fund has accomplished alot in pro football.

…Not in favor of dropping draft pick compensation for free agents who are tendered big money contracts.
—There is going to be a fight over this with the Union-who wants compensation for tendered free agents dropped…A compromise, instead of the Tigers giving up their lst round pick for Justin Upton-instead have San Diego get a bonus pick at the end of the first round…it would allow more free agent movement.

…Does not foresee international draft or a global draft in immediate near future
—My son is a lst round draft pick pitcher-and falls under a slot system after pitching 3-years in college….but a Cuban 16-year old can get an 11M-signing bonus under the international free agent system….That’s wrong…just invoke the same pay scale for international free agents….A global draft doesn’t work because each of the federations, from Japan to Taiwan to South Korea to the Caribbean, have different rules.

…Struggling to reduce schedule from 162-to-154 games…’work less-get paid less’
—Baseball does not have to make this an economical issue….Make Monday an off day for everyone…it refreshes players…cut the schedule and travel times for teams….reduce the slate to 154 games…but increase the playoffs-wildcard to a Best of 3-play in…those games are more profitable anyway.

…Home runs at highest level since 2000-Steroid scandal..does not see it as increased PEDs or different balls.
—Everybody is doing legal supplements, and training almost year round…The only crisis baseball has is with Caribbean players, and the black market, and the lack of education that leads to illegal purchase, sometimes unknowingly….Baseball’s program seems to be exceptional.

…MLB does 22,000-drug tests a season…only 13-positive tests in majors…57-in minors.
—It does seem strange that there have been no suspensions for HGH positive tests in the 3-years since the program has been introduced.

…MLB talking to Umpires Union about making Crew Chief to explain Instant replay calls
—The commissioner has preached transparency-what better way than live-mike the crew chief to explain what they saw on replay-and why they ruled the way they did.

…Smokeless tobacco remains unresolved-it is a ‘freedom of choice’ incident-not illegal-can buy it in stores-must be negotiated
—Why does protecting a players health become a negotiating bargaining chip? The inherent dangers should be the red-flag. Buying beer is legal-but driving drunk killing someone is punishable….Getting cancer of the mouth is dangerous life threatening. Why would the union want to negotiate something that could save lives?.

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