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Major League Baseball is looking into whether the Mets and Yankees communicated to suppress the free-agent market of slugger Aaron Judge, which would be a violation of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal reported.
In a Nov. 3 article, SNY’s Andy Martino reported the Mets would not fight the Yankees to sign Judge this offseason, attributing the comments to Mets sources. Martino also wrote, “the team in Queens sees Judge as a Yankee, uniquely tailored to be an icon in their uniform, stadium and branding efforts. Owners Steve Cohen and Hal Steinbrenner enjoy a mutually respectful relationship, and do not expect to upend that with a high-profile bidding war.”
This prompted the MLB Players’ Association to request that the commissioner’s office investigate whether the two owners, Cohen of the Mets and Steinbrenner of the Yankees, had conspired to curb Judge’s free-agent value in an attempt to limit the value of his next contract, according to Rosenthal.
The CBA does not allow clubs to share information about players’ contracts or free-agent negotiations, specifically stating, “Players shall not act in concert with other Players and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs.”
MLB is expected to request Steinbrenner and Cohen’s phone and email records to further investigate the collusion claims. The players association also reserves the right to file a grievance about a possible CBA violation, which would be separate from the league’s investigation. An independent arbitrator would handle the case if a grievance is filed. The MLBPA would have to prove that any communications between the two teams damaged Judge’s free-agent market.
After turning down a $213.5 million contract extension offer from the Yankees just before Opening Day, Judge enjoyed one of the best seasons in MLB history. He hit 62 home runs to break the single-season American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961 and powered the Yankees (99–63) to a first-place finish in the AL East. New York advanced to the American League Championship Series, where they were swept by the eventual World Series champions, the Astros.
The Yankees have made clear their desire to bring back Judge. Steinbrenner told reporters this week that “in my opinion, we’re going to be able to sign Aaron.” Manager Aaron Boone also has high hopes that Judge will return.
“Of course I hope he’s back and a Yankee forever,” Boone said in his season-ending press conference. “I can’t think of a better guy that you’d want to be leading your team and leading your organization. Hopefully that all works out.”
On Thursday, commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the investigation.
“I am absolutely confident that the clubs behaved in a way that was consistent with the agreement,” he said, via The Athletic‘s Evan Drellich. “This was based on a newspaper report. We will put ourselves in a position to demonstrate credibly to the MLBPA that this is not an issue. I’m sure that’s going to be the outcome. But obviously, we understand the emotion that surrounds the word [collusion] and we’ll proceed accordingly.”
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