A-Rod case just one challenge for Clark
MCLEAN, VA. They’ll talk. It might not help much in Alex Rodriguez’s likely contract dispute with the New York Yankees over his home run bonuses, but it’s an approach that’s cause for optimism in the broader scope of the baseball players union’s relationship with Major League Baseball.
“This is one of those items that, despite the fanfare, is going to continue to be a topic of discussion,” says Tony Clark, MLB Players Association executive director, in his first public comments since Rodriguez reached the first bonus trigger with his 660th home run Friday. “We are communicating with Alex and his representative to see what next steps might look like.”
This issue hasn’t bubbled over into the legal arena yet, and it’s one that probably ends up in the hands of an arbitrator, but it’s part of the almost routine labor relations for a sport now 20 years removed from its last work stoppage.
“There are always going to be challenges,” says Clark, who after the 2016 season will enter his first negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement as the union leader. Same for new MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who, like Clark, has been at the table for previous contract talks but now has graduated to commissioner from his previous role as management’s lead negotiator.
“We won’t know what bargaining looks like until we get into bargaining,” Clark says. “How we navigate the challenges is going to lead us to a deal or it is not. We’ve been able to navigate them against the backdrop of the (sport’s economic) growth. We’ve been able to find where that fair and equitable balance has been.”
It’s the day-to-day commonsense dialog on issues from performance-enhancing drugs to this season’s pace-of-play initiatives that mark baseball’s current labor climate.
Changes in the specifics of the drug program have been made along the way without waiting for the next CBA talks — the current agreement was reached in 2011 — and similar discussions are helping the players’ adjustment to the new pace-of-game rules.
While feedback from players indicates they feel the flow of the game is better — not to mention shaving off roughly eight minutes — the season’s first month has included trial and error with the process.
The next real test of the relationship that has management and the union as sometimes partners in endeavors such as the World Baseball Classic comes in the 2016 negotiations, where Clark expects to be tested. He is hopeful. “The relationships and respect that have been communicated has proven beneficial to find common ground sooner rather than later,” he says. “That doesn’t mean that we’ll always agree.”