Blake Snell’s move to the San Francisco Giants was not the only reason why he was in the headlines. His contract holdout along with Jordan Montgomery’s happened in an offseason where there was a billion-dollar decrease in front-office spending league-wide. This prompted a move from MLB players in the Major League Baseball Player’s Association (MLBPA) to reach out to Tony Clark. They called for Bruce Meyer to be removed and instead be replaced with Harry Marino, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.
“On a call with dozens of player representatives from the major and minor league units of the union that lasted nearly three hours, a majority of players in an informal vote told MLBPA executive director Tony Clark they wanted to replace deputy executive director Bruce Meyer with Harry Marino, the lawyer who spearheaded the unionization efforts of minor league players,” the report declared.
Clark is the only person that the players from the MLBPA can approach in this situation. His position as executive director makes him the only person capable of firing and acquiring new individuals to fill positions.
Marino stands out as a candidate to replace Meyer. His promise, if he takes over the MLBPA and its labor unit, is to get an audit of their spending to explain the drastic fall in spending. However, some players in the MLBPA questioned his qualifications for the role. Marino is relatively inexperienced in cases where they would need to negotiate with a veteran labor team with the MLB. He does have a plan to offset these questions and that is to expand with veteran lawyers.
The Zoom call reportedly dragged on with a lot of arguments which left Meyers’ future in the shadows. Will Clark be able to make a decision before Opening Day?
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