If this is any sign of how the negotiations for the CBA, which runs out on December 1, 2026, are going to go, this is not going to be pretty. The commissioner routinely visits MLB clubhouses during the season as a check-in and to discuss the general state of the game. He was in Philadelphia last week, but received no Brotherly Love from Bryce Harper.

Passan reports that during his talk, Rob Manfred started to turn the discussion toward the upcoming labor discussions and Harper took exception. Before Manfred could potentially mention a topic that is on player’s minds – a salary cap – Harper, to put it nicely, asked the commissioner to leave. To put it bluntly, according to Passan, Harper told the commish to: “Get the f_ _k out of our clubhouse.” Passan further reported that the two were “nose to nose” when the ‘request’ was made. The commissioner left without any further incident.

Major league owners and the Players’ Association have started very preliminary talks regarding a new agreement. It’s thought that the owners may want a salary cap to stem the tide of rising salaries and the ability of some teams to well outspend others when it comes to signing free agents or retaining their own players once they have earned a legitimate amount of playing time.

A cap would be a hard sell for the owners. The NFL and NHL use hard caps in an effort to promote parity and prevent richer teams from dominating in the league. The NBA uses what is known as a “soft cap” that can be exceeded but with financial penalties to the team. The NBA cap is meant to encourages players to be retained by their original team and keep some continuity to rosters. Luxury taxes and other rules are in place to curb excessive spending.

Major League Baseball does have a Luxury Tax in place, but some teams have the financial ability to blow past the spending levels that are in place and simply pay the added tax from the league.