A slow-moving MLB free agency in which top-tier stars settled for underwhelming contracts served as a strike against the MLB Player Association’s No. 2 executive, whom union members are now pushing to be replaced, according to a report Tuesday.
The majority of the players who took part in a Zoom call Monday night called for the removal of deputy executive director Bruce Meyer, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Participating players reportedly voiced their stance through an informal vote, telling MLBPA executive director Tony Clark they want lawyer Harry Marino, 33, to take the 62-year-old Meyer’s place.
Clark, a former Mets and Yankees first baseman, did not make any changes during the nearly three-hour virtual meeting, according to ESPN. The MLBPA did not immediately respond to a Daily News request for comment.
National League MVP Cody Bellinger took a three-year, $80 million contract with the Cubs late last month, while four-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Matt Chapman signed a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants in early March. On Monday, reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell reached a two-year, $62 million pact with San Francisco.
All three agreed to their contracts after spring training began, with each deal including opt-outs after every year. Jordan Montgomery, meanwhile, remains unsigned despite a career-best 3.20 ERA over a career-high 188.2 innings last season, followed by a starring role in the Rangers’ World Series run.
All four players are represented by agent Scott Boras, as is JD Martinez, who remains unsigned after an All-Star 2023 season.
Owners committed $2.9 billion this offseason, down by $1 billion from the previous one, reportedly causing players to want an audit. Most of the 2023-24 offseason spending was done by the Dodgers, who signed Shohei Ohtani to a heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million contract and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for 12 years and $325 million.
Players in Monday’s Zoom reportedly argued Meyer, a trial lawyer hired by the union in 2018 and made deputy executive director in 2022, has similar ideologies as Boras, which Meyer denied. Meyer previously denied Boras’ influence over him, calling the notion “absurd” in 2021.
“The players run the union,” Meyer told The Athletic at the time. “Scott’s obviously an important agent to the extent he represents a lot of 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.”
Some players in Monday’s call, though, were weary about the youth and lack of experience of Marino, who spent less than a year with the MLBPA from 2022-23 but led the minor-league players’ unionization.
