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MLB union chief Tony Clark: Rule changes unlikely, Yankees' Levine 'unprofessional'

Bob Nightengale
USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX - Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Players Association, listens to the consternation, the rule change proposals, and the idea that baseball needs to step up with the times.

Executive director of the Major League Players Association Tony Clark answers questions at a news conference Sunday.

Sorry, he just doesn’t buy the need for dramatic change.

Clark assured reporters Sunday afternoon in a 90-minute press conference that the only potential rule change this year would be the possible altering of the intentional walk.

That’s it.

He scoffed at the idea of imposing an extra-inning rule at the major league level of starting the 10th inning with a runner at second base, as MLB will experiment with deep in the minor leagues. There will be no pitch clock. And the elimination of the low strike, which naturally invoked a difference of opinion between hitters and pitchers, won’t change, at least for the near future.

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“So how do you have a conversation about more offense in less period of time,’’ Clark said, “with a guy on the mound dictating terms?’’?

The game of baseball, Clark insists, even with games lasting 3 hours, is doing just fine.

“There has been so much dialogue the last few years,’’ Clark said, “that changing or making adjustment is becoming more challenging when taking into account the industry as a whole and how it’s doing.

“Guys are progressive. Guys understand innovation. Guys understand thinking about tomorrow and protecting against the future.

“I don’t know if there’s a more vested group than the players when it comes to the game, and the respect for it, and the always dangerous proposition of our game turning into something that love it and respect it, don’t recognize it as much anymore.’’

Sure, games may have lasted 3 hours last season, but Clark doesn’t see the dead time in games, saying instead baseball should use the time to educate the public on the nuances of the game.

“So while suggesting that I’d like to find an extra 10 minutes, five minutes or 30 minutes,’’ Clark said, “I get it, on the surface. But I think there’s an opportunity to engage, teach, and flip the conversation in a way that allows folks to appreciate what you’re seeing. …

“I think there are avenues for us to engage in that could be as beneficial, if not more beneficial, than trying to determine other fundamental game shifts that directly affected those who are playing in it, in a way that may not always be beneficial to a players’ career.

“And that’s something we’re very concerned with.’’

Clark, 44, a 15-year major-league veteran, addressed a myriad of topics throughout his media session:

- He was perturbed by New York Yankees president Randy Levine’s comments ridiculing the $5 million arbitration request by reliever Dellin Betances and his agent, even after the Yankees prevailed at $3 million.

“The most troubling thing is that conversation and the particulars related to that case was made public,’’ Clark said, “which is unprecedented and unprofessional, and should never have happened in the fashion it did.’’

- Clark will closely monitor effects from executive orders on immigration signed by President Trump. St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Dexter Fowler told ESPN that he’s upset that the ban of immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries may prevent him and his wife, Darya, who was born in Iran, from visiting the country in the near future.

“There are a lot of concerns,’’ Clark said. “There have always been a lot of concerns. We have challenges every off-season, but admittedly, the climate is even more different than it has been in the past.

“We will have to see what the changes are compared to rhetoric. … We don’t know how it will affect our guys.’’

-The union is concerned that Major League Baseball is now open to the idea of revisiting its stance on legalized gambling on baseball.

“Yes, particularly considering our history,’’ Clark said, “and everyone in here knows it very well. If there’s a change of a shift, that’s a conversation that we’re going to be need to be part of here, as a result of historically of where we have been.

The industry appears to be changing,’’ Clark said. “I think that involvement in fantasy [baseball] appears to have changed some of the conversation. ….We’re very interested to seeing if the longtime historical position of our industry is changing, and if so, how is that going to manifest itself.’’

-Clark, who also was part of rookie hazing as a player, wearing clown shoes and a butterfly collar, says that players have to be cognizant of the changing of the times in any hazing ritual in the future.

“It has been a part of our history for a very long time,’’ Clark said, “but the climate we live in now is a little different. The players enjoy that rite of passage. You have to be more diligent and respectful of what messaging that sends.’’

-Clark understands that it was quite a suppressed free-agent market this year, with only New York Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes receiving a deal in excess of $100 million, and the free-agent market still is littered with veterans. Yet, Clark wasn’t about to accuse any owners of collusion.

“Having concern is one thing,’’ Clark said, “taking whatever can be deciphered as fact and taking it from there can be another. We keep our eye on everything.’’

-Social media is more powerful than ever, with Fowler the latest to receive nasty comments from fans for criticizing the immigration ban, but Clark welcomes players to share their opinions on social issues.

“Baseball players are a microcosm of society,’’ Clark said. “I was a grown man before I was a baseball player. If I have a view, I should be willing to share it.

“Any player understands when they take a particular position, it may not be a popular one. There may be pushback. There may be those who agree with him. There may be those that don’t. But that shouldn’t be a reason not to have an opinion.

“I encourage any player that if they feel strongly about something to voice it, if they feel the need to do so, while understanding the responsibility he has, and the pushback he may receive, or the support he receives, when he does so.’’

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