MLBPA executive director Tony Clark tamps down talk on player division, lauds union gains in new CBA

With the Major League Baseball Players Association split between team representatives and its executive subcommittee members in the vote that ended the league's 99-day lockout, some wondered about a stark division within union leadership.

But Tony Clark, in his ninth year as MLBPA executive director, disagreed with that characterization, saying the vote demonstrated «healthy dialogue and conversation» and praising the gains the union made through the drawn-out negotiations.

«At the end of the day, each player, player reps, the teams that they represent, the executive subcommittee, all had a common goal in improving the system,» Clark said Friday morning from MLBPA headquarters in New York. «And so the conversations that were had, the tough conversations that were had, afforded any number of players — beyond the executive subcommittee and beyond the player reps themselves, and the young players themselves — to appreciate that the commitment to improve the system was front and center for every player that voted and every player that weighed in.»

All eight members of the executive subcommittee voted against MLB's final proposal, but 26 of the 30 team representatives were in favor, leading to the end of the league-imposed lockout Thursday and completion of a new collective bargaining agreement.

On Friday, Clark and lead negotiator Bruce Meyer expressed satisfaction over gains in the minimum salary (from $575,500 in 2021 to $700,000 in 2022) and competitive balance tax threshold (from $210 million in 2021 to $230 million in 2022), as well as the introduction of a $50 million pool for players who are not arbitration-eligible, a five-option limit per season and the addition of the designated hitter to the National League.

The