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Rosenthal: Royals’ GM Moore seething over union’s stance on 40-man roster camps
By Ken Rosenthal Sep 23, 2020 85
Royals catcher Salvador Peréz missed the entire 2019 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, about half of spring training 2.0 after testing positive for COVID-19 and nearly four weeks during the season because of a fluid-filled particle in his left eye.
So when the Royals offered players the chance to remain in Kansas City for a training camp at Kauffman Stadium after the conclusion of the 2020 season, Peréz was eager for the extra work, according to a source with knowledge of the thinking. In fact, 24 of the players on the Royals’ 40-man roster said they wanted to participate, general manager Dayton Moore said.
But two memos from the Players Association, both of which were obtained by The Athletic, said the union was unwilling to grant consent for a camp that would run counter to the sport’s collective bargaining agreement. The decision left Moore seething that players who want to continue honing their craft by working directly with their organization will not get that chance.
The union said camps such as the one proposed by the Royals for 40-man roster players would represent, as an extension of the 2020 work calendar, a departure from the terms the players and owners negotiated in the CBA.
“That’s the dysfunction in the game,” Moore said on Wednesday. “I’m not a labor attorney. I’m not negotiating the next Basic Agreement. My job is simply to provide opportunities for players to play baseball.
“That’s all we’ve tried to do. No agenda. Very innocent. And for whatever reason, we have labor attorneys, once again, deciding who gets to play baseball and who doesn’t get to play baseball when a kid just simply wants to put the damn uniform on and go play.”
The union’s decision-making process includes not just attorneys, but also executive director Tony Clark and other former players who now work for the PA. Going back to the late Marvin Miller, union leaders have said players determine the direction of the union.
Like Peréz, shortstop Adalberto Mondesi is a major leaguer who intended to participate in the Royals’ camp. Mondesi, 25, has struggled offensively this season, entering Wednesday’s play with a .209 batting average and .566 OPS. His agent, Gio Rodriguez of CAA, said Mondesi was sympathetic to both the union’s and Moore’s positions.
“Mondi wanted to stay and work through some added ABs. The organization had put together a plan he felt comfortable with,” Rodriguez said. “He felt he could work on his craft with the organization and show them he’s focused on getting to his potential.
“However, he does understand the union’s stance and how it affects other union members. As with much of 2020, this situation is a clear representation of how we need to come together to find the right path.”
Moore said he heard from agents the union would allow the Royals to hold their camp for 40-man players if they continued paying them full salaries rather than proceed with a plan to house them at hotels, feed them at the ballpark and pay them $50 per day in meal money as well. Neither of the union’s memos to agents mentioned the PA changing its position if players received full salaries.
The first memo, sent to agents of players on the Royals’ 40-man roster in mid-September, said the team could not conduct a camp after the season without the union’s consent. The second memo, sent to all agents on Tuesday night, said the union had informed the commissioner’s office it would not grant permission for clubs to include 40-man players in such camps.
The only exceptions the union said it will consider are for players who want to participate for medical reasons — the rehabilitation of an injury, for example, or a COVID-19 related medical history. A source with knowledge of the league’s position said some 40-man players already have been approved.
The Royals became a focal point for the union because of their aggressiveness in trying to create opportunities for players to continue training after a 2020 season in which the major-league schedule was reduced from 162 games to 60 and the minor-league campaign was canceled. “We’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to develop players. We’re not getting better,” Moore said.
The ability of teams to conduct fall and winter programs initially was in doubt, in part because some teams did not believe they were necessary. But the Royals in late August presented a plan to the commissioner’s office for a program at its spring facility in Surprise, Ariz., that included intake testing for COVID-19 and excluded high-risk employees. According to Moore, city officials in Surprise supported the plan, as did officials of the Texas Rangers, with whom the Royals share their spring training facility.
On Sept. 1, as first reported by Baseball America, the league sent a memo to club executives saying that fall instructional programs, including games against other clubs, would be permitted starting Sept. 18. The memo said 40-man roster players could not attend the camps, with exceptions to be granted on a case-by-case basis.
A few days later, Moore said Royals assistant GM J.J. Piccolo told him several of the team’s major leaguers had expressed a desire to take part in the instructional league. Moore then decided if the team failed to reach the postseason, it would hold a separate camp for 40-man roster players for 3 1/2 weeks at Kauffman Stadium after the season ended.
Royals manager Mike Matheny and his coaching staff agreed to run the camp and owner John Sherman approved the expenditures, Moore said — $700,000 for the camp in Kansas City and $1 million for the one in Arizona, which will proceed as planned, but without 40-man players, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 23.
The union, in addition to viewing the camps for 40-man players as outside the domain of the CBA, expressed concern in its most recent memo to agents that clubs were pressuring players to attend.
“For some teams, it appears that only non-40 man roster players are being invited. For several other teams, however, 40-man roster players are being invited as well,” the memo said. “And while these camps are being advertised by most clubs as ‘voluntary,’ we have heard from several sources that players are being pressured to attend, and also that several players fear adverse consequences from club decision-makers if they choose to instead return home.”
Moore said he received confirmation from players and their agents about the willingness of those players to participate. But he also acknowledged hearing that some players had complained to their agents about teammates pressuring them to attend.
“I have no idea if that’s true or not,” said Moore, who before becoming Royals GM in May 2006 spent more than a decade with the Braves. “All I can tell you is our culture, whether here in Kansas City or Atlanta, has always been, ‘If you don’t want to go winter ball, we’re not forcing you to go to winter ball. If you don’t want to go to Instructional League, we’re not forcing you to go to Instructional League.’ This is just an opportunity. We set this entire camp up at their request – the players’ request – to continue to play.”
Moore said he understands the union’s position, to a point.
“There are legal reasons they don’t want them to play. They don’t want to set precedent. I understand all of that,” Moore said. “I’m not a lawyer. I’m sure there are fine people just defending labor, defending unions, trying to do the right thing in their business. But they don’t understand my business. They don’t understand the players’ business. People need to start understanding what baseball means to a baseball player.”
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