On Monday the Chicago Cubs sent down third baseman Kris Bryant to the team's minor league camp, which indicates he will not start the season on the Opening Day roster. The MLB Players Association is not happy with the decision.
Earlier in the offseason the MLBPA said they would be monitoring how the Cubs handled Bryant's situation, which has been a big story this spring. They were not happy with Chicago's decision yesterday and made it known on their Twitter account.
Today is a bad day for baseball. We all know that if @KrisBryant_23 were a combination of the greatest Players to play our great game,(1/3)
— MLBPA (@MLB_PLAYERS) March 30, 2015
and perhaps he will be before it's all said and done, the @Cubs still would have made the decision they made today. (2/3)
— MLBPA (@MLB_PLAYERS) March 30, 2015
This decision, and other similar decisions made by clubs will be addressed in litigation, bargaining or both. (End)
— MLBPA (@MLB_PLAYERS) March 30, 2015
The 23-year-old Bryant leads the MLB in home runs (9) and RBIs (14) during spring training and has clearly proved from an offensive standpoint he is ready for the big leagues.
However, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer don't feel that way. They have a certain philosophy in terms of how they develop their prospects, as Epstein talked about here, and like to have players come up after they've gotten into a rhythm in the minor leagues. Epstein noted he has never put a prospect without prior MLB experience on an Opening Day roster.
However, there's a bit of an issue here, because if Chicago keeps Bryant in the minor leagues for the first 12 days of the season he will remain under club control for an extra year and the team will prolong his free agency. The MLBPA claims the Cubs are making the decision solely based on service time considerations and not for the good of baseball, but that may not be a valid argument since the Collective Bargaining Agreement that the MLB and MLBPA agreed upon gives clubs such control over their players. Additionally, Epstein has a track record of developing his players a certain way, which is well within is right.
"This is incorrect as a matter of contract law, especially collective-bargaining contract law. Not everything that isn't explicitly banned by the letter of the agreement is something the employer is permitted to do. I don't know where this misconception came from, but it's time to end it," writes Oakland Athletics' blogger and full-time labor lawyer Jason Wojciechowski.
We'll see how the MLBPA handles this, but it's not too clear what they can do about it.
