http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=30792
Rubbing Mud Wartime Consigliere.
BaseballProspectus
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement has been struck, though not yet fully articulated to the public. We know enough to make some firm statements, though, like these: Tony Clark, the successor to a weak union chief, was determined to be a stronger one, but turned out not to be good enough at the job for his strength or weakness to matter.
In Marvin Miller, Donald Fehr, and Gene Orza, they had just that. Michael Weiner, by all accounts an exceptionally gracious, thoughtful, and competent man, nonetheless lacked the tenacity of his forebears and let the union down.
Clark simply lacks the high-level legal brilliance of those four men, and no efforts to reach out to a wider swath of his union membership for support, nor earnest desire to protect his constituents? rights, could compensate for that shortcoming. The players got rogered but good. Wealth will flow into baseball at an ever faster rate over the next five years, but players will see a diminishing share of that wealth and it?s because they?re missing the kind of exceptional, transformational leadership that made them a match for the often repugnant, always ruthless efforts of the owners to keep every piece of the pie they could out of players? reach.
When the negotiations for the next CBA begin in a few years, it can?t be Clark in the center seat on the players? side of the table. His bungling of the exchange that led from an ownership proposal for an international draft to a low, hard cap on all international amateur spending makes clear that he?s outgunned at the bargaining table with Rob Manfred?a fact that should come as no surprise, since Manfred has been the owners? top negotiator since Clark was an All-Star first baseman, and has been working for the league?s business arm since Clark was in high school.
