Baseball Ops Network

Here is a list of the 8 MLBPA Executive Subcommittee members: • Marcus Semien (New York Mets) • Chris Bassitt (Baltimore Orioles) • Jake Cronenworth (San Diego Padres) • Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates) • Brent Suter (Los Angeles Angels) • Pete Fairbanks (Miami Marlins) • Cedric Mullins (Tampa Bay Rays) • Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers) These will be 8 of the 38 players who will vote on any proposed CBA, assuming they keep their committee positions of course What we know from Bassitt: “The salary cap doesn’t fix anything. If you look at every major sport that has a salary cap, we have the best parity. The salary cap is not the issue. Having suppressed salaries across the league so owners can make more money is not the answer.” • “Honestly, the salary cap stuff makes absolutely no sense… A salary cap means that we get a share of the revenue. Billionaires are very good at hiding revenue.” • He has also called the owners’ first formal proposal something that should be “thrown in the trash.” from Cronenworth “We’ve taken a pretty hard stance on that [a salary cap]. Not just this year, but forever. I think that shows the unity and the strength of the Players Association.” • He has emphasized that the free-market system is the most important thing players have and that other leagues’ salary caps remove that freedom from Skenes Called the owners’ initial proposal (built around a hard cap) “very, very bad.” • Reiterated the players’ long-standing opposition to a salary cap and said it would be a “complete disservice” to past players to give in. • When asked about missing games, he said there is a line the players won’t cross and they will miss games if necessary. from Fairbanks “It’s the lowest-hanging fruit for the casual fan to grab onto… But the desire to cap the cost of labor isn’t rooted in competitive balance. Every business in the history of businesses has wanted a static labor cost.” from Suter “There are fan bases that are disillusioned. I get the frustrations.” (While still operating within the union’s anti-cap position.) No public quotes are known that I can find from Semien, Skubal or Mullins