Major League Baseball is investigating whether comments attributed to Mets sources about the team’s reluctance to pursue free-agent outfielder Aaron Judge constitute a violation of baseball’s collective agreement.
An article published Nov. 3 on the Mets television network website said the Mets would not bid against the Yankees as judges. Details in the story caught the attention of the Players Association, who asked the Commissioner’s Office to investigate whether improper communication had taken place between the clubs’ respective owners, according to sources briefed on the situation.
A separate comment by Astros owner Jim Crane on his team’s website on Tuesday, saying Justin Verlander is seeking a similar contract to Max Scherzer, could also lead to a review by the Players Association if the union found it to be a violation against the CBA.
The union reserves the right to lodge a complaint about either or both situations. To win a grievance, the union would need to show that markets for Judge and/or Verlander have been damaged, which could be difficult considering they are two of the most desirable free agents of the offseason. But the union remains sensitive to the threat posed by owners, who have conspired to keep free agents’ salaries low as they did more than 30 years ago in the sport’s biggest collusion.
Recent CBAs specifically ban the sharing of player contract information, saying “players may not act in concert with other players, and clubs may not act in concert with other clubs.” The league is expected in its investigation to require that Mets owners Steve Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner provide records of all phone, text and email conversations that took place between them during the period in question.
The SNY.tv article said the Mets’ position on Judge hasn’t changed since April, when team sources said the club wouldn’t be battling the Yankees for the outfielder if he became a free agent in the offseason. The article also said Cohen and Steinbrenner “enjoy a mutually respectful relationship and don’t expect to upset that with a high-profile bidding war.”
MLB and Players Association officials declined to comment, and the Mets, Yankees and Astros did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Three times in the late 1980s, independent arbitrators ruled that the owners had colluded to avoid bidding competitively on free agents. A settlement in the three cases resulted in the owners agreeing to pay the players $280 million. The players later claimed the owners also engaged in collusion in 2002 and 2003, and the owners agreed to pay the players $12 million guilt-free as part of the 2006 CBA.
In addition to the specific language in the CBA regarding collusion, the agreement contains the details that the parties are not permitted to disclose publicly about contract negotiations. Both provisions remain in force in the new collective agreement, which the parties are currently formally codifying.
If the union files a grievance about the situation at the Mets and Yankees, an arbitrator will determine whether collusion has taken place. The union would have to prove separately that the judge was harmed. He would receive triple damages.
Crane’s comment falls into a different category. Agents say a club official who speaks publicly about a contract negotiation may be influencing the market by effectively using the media to create the kind of information bank clubs employed during the collusion era. The CBA includes a promise from the league that clubs “will not operate an information bank regarding free agents”.
As reported by MLB.com, “Crane said Verlander is seeking a similar deal to Max Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the Mets a year ago.” The CBA states that neither players nor clubs ” comment to the media on the value of an unsigned free agent, whether or not discussions have taken place.” It also lists a “non-exhaustive” list of prohibited comments, including “Player X seeks more than Player Y received.”
“I know him well, so we were pretty open,” Crane said of Verlander. “He’s looking at the comps, which I think is only one or two…JV probably has a few years left and he wants to make the most of it. I think he will test the market with it.”
Theoretically, Crane’s comments could deter potential applicants for Verlander and depress his market. According to sources familiar with his running the club, Crane has taken on a larger role in baseball’s operations since the Astros were fined in January 2020 for illegally stealing electronic tags. The team is currently GM-less after Crane decided to part ways with James Click last Friday.
Evan Drellich from The Athletic contributed to this story.
(Photo: Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)