Bryce Harper probably will not be getting a holiday card from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
On Monday, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Philadelphia Phillies superstar confronted the commissioner of baseball in a heated locker room exchange last week, telling him to “get the f— out of our clubhouse” if Manfred wanted to discuss the potential implementation of a salary cap.
The dust-up happened during Manfred’s routine meetings with all 30 MLB clubs in an effort to improve relations with every team’s players. The meeting lasted more than an hour and ended with Harper telling the main boss of baseball to kick rocks when the discussion pivoted to the game’s economics.
The collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association is set to expire on Dec. 1, 2026 — just weeks after the 2026 World Series champion is crowned.
Of course, players like Harper will never want a salary cap. He signed a 13-year contract worth $330 million with the Phillies in 2019. He has seven years remaining on that deal and is already looking to extend the commitment even longer.
On the other side of the argument, owners across baseball will probably push for a salary cap. Small-market teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates or Cleveland Guardians find themselves at a disadvantage, as their limited revenue streams would almost certainly prevent them from affording a player like Harper, Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto — even if they drafted and developed them.
According to Passan, Harper grew frustrated with the conversation after staying quiet for most of the meeting and said that if MLB were to propose a cap and hold firm to it, players “are not scared to lose 162 games.”
And that’s exactly where all of this is heading. MLB players are going to remain dug in. They are never going to willingly accept a cap on their potential earnings.
If Harper, who is one of the game’s most recognized stars, is already threatening a lockout in 2027, things are looking bleak for this collective bargaining agreement to be productive.
Manfred reportedly stood his ground, telling Harper that he was “not going to get the f— out of here,” because it was important to discuss the threats facing MLB and ways to grow the game.
The report states Harper went toe-to-toe with Manfred, and the situation was diffused by Nick Castellanos. It ended with Harper and Manfred shaking hands, but Harper reportedly did not answer Manfred’s calls in the days that followed.
Manfred started holding these routine meetings in MLB clubhouses in the aftermath of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement negotiations. We also remember how messy things were during the COVID-19 pandemic, when other leagues figured out ways to play sports indoors while baseball bickered over the length of the season.
The issue of salary caps and salary floors in baseball has been debated for years. Players have long expressed frustration with certain organizations that refuse to spend. Meanwhile, teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers can defer hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for decades without any penalty.
Nobody wants a work stoppage in baseball. Not the league, because it would lose revenue from its television partnerships. Not the players, because they have limited windows to earn. Not the fans, because living through a summer without baseball just feels wrong.
So if nobody wants it, then why does it feel inevitable?
