Rob Manfred is not the most well-liked man in baseball right now.
The MLB commissioner was, obviously, at the front of the recently-resolved lockout. As someone who works for the league owners, he just spent the last three months in contentious negotiations with the players’ union, periodically drawing the ire of current big league players -- including the most notable man in the league.
Manfred has made clear that he needs to repair his relationship with the players, and that’s going to be a long-term project. But former pro ballplayer Cody Decker pointed out on Audacy’s “Big Time Baseball” podcast Friday that, technically, Manfred is doing his job well.
"I’d like to actually make the argument here that Rob Manfred is an exceedingly good Major League Baseball commissioner. And before some of you baseball fans who aren’t fans of Rob Manfred get out your pitchforks and start yelling at me, hear what I have to say," Decker said. "Rob Manfred’s job is, more or less, the commissioner's job at this point, is being a union head chief for the owners. That’s what the job is. And the job of the commissioner is to make the game as profitable as possible. Right now Major League Baseball has never been more profitable and the owners have never made more money. Thus, Rob Manfred is incredible at his job."
That's not Decker making a full-throated defense of Manfred, it's just reality. While the fans and players might have an issue with Manfred at the moment, he largely has fulfilled his duty to the people he reports to. Now, the owners might also have some issue with certain concessions they believe they had to make, but that’s also the nature of labor negotiations.
So long as baseball remains highly profitable, Manfred likely will be looked at favorably by the owners.
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