Bruce Meyer Unanimously Elected as Interim MLBPA Executive Director to Replace Tony Clark
The Major League Baseball Players Association announced it chose its next executive director Wednesday.
Bruce Meyer, who was previously the No. 2 in the union, was unanimously chosen by the 72 players who make up the MLBPA's executive board to take over in an interim capacity.
ESPN's Jeff Passan reported the plan is for him to be in the position through the collective-bargaining negotiations with the current CBA set to expire on Dec. 1.
The position was open because Tony Clark resigned as executive director, which the MLBPA explained in a statement on Tuesday:
While the timing of Clark's departure was notable given the looming CBA situation, the statement said, in part, "the strength of the union is—and will always be—the solidarity of our membership. We have a long history of fighting for the rights of every Player, and we're committed to making sure we can continue that fight successfully."
Meyer turned heads on Wednesday even before he was chosen to replace Clark.
"A lockout is all but guaranteed at the end of the agreement," he said, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "The league has pretty much said that. Their strategy in bargaining has always been to put as much pressure on players as they can to try and create divisions and cracks among our membership. It's never worked. I don't think it ever will work."
While the 2026 season will be played as scheduled, the start of the 2027 campaign could be in serious jeopardy given that overall outlook.
MLB does not have a salary cap, but the ever-growing divide between the league's highest-spending teams and its lowest-spending ones has generated plenty of headlines of late.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' spending habits are at the center of that, and Passan reported this month that "nearly every owner believes MLB needs a salary cap" and think "it would provide a pathway to competitive balance, which they believe is entirely out of whack."
According to FanGraphs, the Dodgers have a 2026 projected payroll of $394 million. By comparison, the St. Louis Cardinals, Athletics, Washington Nationals, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins all have payrolls projected at less than $100 million.
Of course, with every team worth more than $1 billion, per Forbes' 2025 valuations, and revenue sharing that distributes money to every team, the arguments can be made that those clubs at the bottom should be spending far more money even if they can't match the Dodgers' pace.
The league seems to be trending toward a massive labor dispute, and the union now has its new leader in place.
