MLB's Rob Manfred Says Owners Want Limits on Contract Length; MLBPA Won't Approve

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on Tuesday during the Sports Business Journal's World Congress of Sports that league owners want to cap the length of contracts, per The Athletic's Evan Drellich. Players, unsurprisingly, aren't interested.

Manfred's full comments were as follows:

"A reform that has been of interest to ownership for a number of years is a limitation of contract length. Obviously players love it, it gives them financial security for a very long period of time. The difficulty—and I think players will come to appreciate this as time goes by—those contracts result in a transfer from the current stars to yesterday's stars. At some point, that has to be true. And I think it is an issue that is important for us to stay focused on, because it creates inflexibility that affects the quality of the teams that you put on the field."

The executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Tony Clark, quickly responded to Manfred's comments:

"The public statements from Rob Manfred about the owners' desire to limit guaranteed contracts is just one more in a series of statements attacking fundamental aspects of baseball's free market system and the freedom of clubs and players to structure deals in the best interests of all parties. The ability of individual clubs to act in their own self-interest in determining how best to put an exciting product on the field for their fans is not something that should be restricted. Anyone who believes that players would ever endorse an assault by management on guaranteed contracts is badly mistaken."

There are currently 15 contracts in baseball spanning double-digit years, led by the massive 14-year, $340 million extension Fernando Tatís Jr. signed with the San Diego Padres. Mike Trout's 12-year, $426.5 million deal is the most total money for a contract in the sport, while Max Scherzer's three-year, $130 million deal has the highest average annual value ($43.3 million).

Owners clearly would prefer the latter route, as it frees them from contractual obligations sooner in the event a player doesn't age well at the latter end of a contract. While that may not be an issue for Tatis, who will be 35 in the final year of his deal, it is a potential point of interest for a team like the Philadelphia Phillies, as Bryce Harper will be 38 in the last season of his 13-year, $330 million deal.

If the Phillies win multiple titles with Harper and he plays at a high level into his 30s, it will be a moot point and a worthwhile investment. But if the injury bug bites and Harper takes a sharp decline, the Phillies could see a big chunk of their salary flexibility compromised.

The players will argue that nobody forced any of these teams to make those financial commitments and that the market should be allowed to dictate contract lengths and terms. They'll likely also argue that certain smaller-market clubs don't splash cash for stars and that if bigger clubs want to gain an edge in a compressed market by offering more years, that shouldn't be restricted.

In certain sports contract lengths are capped, namely the NBA. But the NBA players also reportedly earn a bigger overall share of the revenue pie than their NFL and MLB counterparts, making those constraints on contract length easier to swallow.

If MLB owners push for contract terms in the next round of CBA negotiations, don't be surprised if MLB players outright say no, or at the very least respond by pushing for an NBA-sized revenue split.