(610 Sports) – If you happened to catch MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's press conference on Tuesday, in which he announced the cancellation of the first week of major league baseball, including Opening Day, you were probably puzzled as to why he was in such a good mood, smiling and occasionally laughing, which seemed to irk a lot of people on social media.
Manfred, the man who is charged with overseeing and growing the sport, should be the one most concerned with the continuation of MLB's work stoppage. Unfortunately, that just doesn't seem to be the case and it hasn't gone unnoticed by players.
Royals' player rep Whit Merrifield, who joined 610 Sports' 'Cody & Gold' on Wednesday, shed some light on the relationship between Manfred and the MLB players' union.
"Well, he hasn't done a lot to gain our trust or our respect at this point, I feel like," said Merrifield.
"I don't know Rob, never met Rob, all I know about Rob is what I've seen and heard from him and I hope he has our league's best interest at heart," Merrifield continued. "I don't think that's been very well represented to this point. All I know is what I've seen from him and I hope we can get something figured out."
With MLB's interest in steady decline and the average age of those cheering for the game growing older, baseball already looked to be on life support. This would seemingly be the time for baseball to listen to its' players and attempt to market the game to a younger fanbase, something that's not lost on the players.
"You know, this is our league but he's the one that represents it and is in charge of moving it forward and making the league the best it can be," said Merrifield. "We, as players, feel like we have a pretty dang good sense of what that should look like and should be moving forward and we tried to express that to him, so hopefully he can start listening to us a little better."
If Manfred's display during his press conference is any indication of his willingness to "listen a little better," it's not a great sign for the game but it is validation for what players have felt.
"It just sort of verified what we've known and kind of assumed all along," said Merrifield. "It was good validation for players to see the way he was acting on that podium."
