MLB Players Association in Turmoil Amidst Drop in Free Agency Spending

With free agency spending down significantly this off-season, a group of major and minor league players told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark they wanted to replace the union’s second-in-command on a zoom call yesterday, according to reports in ESPN and The Athletic. A majority of the dozens of players representatives on the Zoom […]

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With free agency spending down significantly this off-season, a group of major and minor league players told MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark they wanted to replace the union’s second-in-command on a zoom call yesterday, according to reports in ESPN and The Athletic.

A majority of the dozens of players representatives on the Zoom pushed for the ousting of deputy executive director Bruce Meyer, per ESPN. He is the one who largely leads the union’s labor talks. The group wants him replaced with Harry Marino, the lawyer who led the unionization efforts of minor leaguers. Minor leaguers now have a say after joining the MLBPA and were present in the discussions, too.

Clark did not made a decision during the call, Passan reported, but he can hire and fire staff as the lead. Clark, Meyer and Marino declined comment to both outlets on the reports.

Blake Snell. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Meyer was on the call, according to The Athletic, and Marino was not. (That’s understandable given one is on MLBPA payroll.) Meyer and Marino have had a strained relationship while working on a minor-league collective bargaining agreement last year, according to the reports. It’s gotten so bad that Meyer accused Marino on the zoom call of coming for his job, according to The Athletic.

The MLBPA will have to collectively bargain with MLB again in a couple years. The current agreement runs through the 2026 season.

Free agent spending dropped from a record $3.9 billion in the 2022-23 offseason to $2.9 billion this offseason, as ESPN pointed. More than a third of the $2.9 billion was spent on two players who signed with the Dodgers—Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The Yankees and Red Sox, historically big spenders, committed less than $50 million this winter, ESPN reported. Eight teams spent less than $15 million each. The Mets, despite severely cutting back on spending after booms in 2022 and 2023, spent over $60 million just filling out the roster.

Frustration grew in recent days after the Giants released J.D. Davis, who won his arbitration case for a $6.9 million salary. Salaries won in arbitration are not guaranteed, so when the Giants released him, they only had to pay him 1/6 of his award—$1.15 million. Davis later signed a one-year deal with Oakland for $2.5 million. (That rule could be interpreted as forcing players to settle for less money and not go to arbitration in order to guarantee their salaries.)

Players have also been irritated about other veterans getting what they deemed as lower-than-expected salaries this winter, according to ESPN. Pitcher Jordan Montgomery and DH J.D. Martinez—both Scott Boras clients—remain free agents.

Major free agents next offseason will include Pete Alonso, Juan Soto, Max Fried, Alex Bregman, Corbin Burnes and, likely, Blake Snell and Cody Bellinger, who signed below-expected deals this offseason with opt outs after one year. All but Burnes are Boras clients.

Meyer joined the MLBPA in 2018. He has long been seen by some as aligned with agent Scott Boras, a charge Meyer, Boras and union leaders have repeatedly denied.

“It’s absurd,” Meyer said in a 2021 interview, according to The Athletic. “The players run the union. Scott’s obviously an important agent to the extent he represents a lot of the players, and we talk to Scott just like we talk to any agent who wants to talk to us. I hesitate, because the more specific you get into it, the more it dignifies it. But I didn’t know Scott when I was hired, and I don’t think I met him, spoke to him, for the first 10 months I was here.”

Marino, 33, is a former minor leaguer who gained notoriety as the executive director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, a group that obtained housing improvements for minor leaguers. He left the MLBPA last year after working on the minor league collective bargaining agreement.

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