MLBPA Chief Tony Clark Visits Padres Amid Controversies

Major League Baseball Players Association Chief Tony Clark visited the Padres camp last week, and several issues that affected the Padres this season were on the agenda to discuss. As the White Sox Adam Laroche retired this week after an ugly disagreement with White Sox GM Kenny Williams over how much access his child will have in the clubhouse, the idea of the qualifying offer and its impact was also on the docket for discussion.

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The Padres, for their part, seemed to use the system to their advantage. They were able to get two additional first round draft picks after Ian Kennedy and Justin Upton both rejected the QA, then signed with other teams. However, it hindered their incentive to sign Ian Desmond who had a first round attached to him and they instead went with Alexei Ramirez. Desmond ended up signing a one year with Texas for $7 to play left field.

Clark addressed the qualifying offer system:

"“Having a system that allows for considerations to be made for players and clubs makes sense, both sides having some flexibility,” Clark said. “When you have a system in place that hinders a club’s ability to sign a player because of whatever considerations they may make in their particular market at that particular time, or if you have something that may be affecting players as well from a negative light, it’s worthy of more discussion.”"

The current CBA expires December 1st and Clark cautioned that isolating the qualifying offer alone would be incorrect. It goes right along with revenue sharing and helping giving all teams regardless of market more of a chance. Baseball is seeing more small market teams make the playoffs than ever, with the Astros perhaps being the biggest benefactor thus far of the system after drafting Carlos Correa a couple of years ago and now having a superstar in their midst. Of course a Carlos Correa doesn’t come along every year.

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Clark also talked about the recent Adam LaRoche controversy which he was quick to point out is also a broader conversation about team policies, front office communication, and not just about kids in the clubhouse. “I think what you’ve seen is everyone trying to get a feel for what happened here, what tomorrow may look like, so in the interim, all I can tell you is that we’re monitoring what’s going on,”

The Padres have two weeks left of Spring Training until the season starts and excited to get back to talking about baseball and not these off the field distractions that tend to come up during the off-season. They seem to be getting closer to sorting out their rotation, bullpen, and lineup options but still a few utility player spots to sort out in their remaining time in the desert.