The commissioner of baseball of the Major Leagues, Rob Manfredannounced this Thursday that the owners of the teams have accepted the implementation of the universal designated hitter.
The implementation of the figure of the designated hitter in the National Leagueas was the case in the American LeagueIt was a request from Players Unionwho maintain a work stoppage since last December.
In a meeting with the press, which took place after a meeting of Manfred with the owners of the teams, he also assured that for the moment the start date of the spring training camps remains unchanged.
“The start of spring training has not changed at this time,” Manfred said in his first meeting with the press since the work stoppage in baseball was announced. Big leagueslast December 2.
The commissioner insisted that maintaining the training date will depend largely on the meeting that will be held next Saturday with the members of the Players’ Union.
“The status of spring training is not changing at this time. We are going to have a conversation with the Players Association about the calendar. Until we have that conversation and until we see how this session goes on Saturday, there is no change.”
The chief executive of MLBtrusts the solidity of the proposal that they will bring to the players on Saturday and that the season can start, as scheduled, for March 31.
I am optimistic and I think we will have an agreement in time to play our regular calendar“expressed Manfred, who indicated that he is aware of what constitutes for the industry that leads a possible delay in the start of the season.
“I consider losing games to be a disastrous outcome for this industry and we are committed to reaching an agreement in an effort to prevent that,” explained Manfred, who noted that “if I had not considered what it would mean to lose the games, I would not be doing my job.”
Despite the optimism that Manfred expressed about meeting the deadlines for the start of the 2022 baseball campaign on time, the commissioner is aware and reiterative in the fact that they will not be able to meet that objective without signing a new labor agreement, a situation that he raised previously.
“We have some logistical issues that would have to be handled between an agreement and the actual opening of the camps,” the MLB chief executive said.
The commissioner explained that they would propose training in four weeks, to allow the players to be placed in playing condition and would give them time to reach the start of the season on the estimated date.
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