Commissioner pays a visit to Wrigley, sees no problem with Kris Bryant
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred paid a visit to Wrigley Field on Friday. He met with both the Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers before the game.
He also stopped for a session with the media. He said he saw no reason for any controversy surrounding the Cubs and the service-time issue with rookie third baseman Kris Bryant.
The Cubs called Bryant up from Class AAA Iowa on April 17. By waiting until then, they saved a year on his service time, delaying his free agency by one year.
Some have called the move unfair even though the Cubs broke no rules in the collective-bargaining agreement between players and owners.
"I was surprised with the controversy for the simple reason that this has been an issue that has been discussed and vetted at the bargaining table in multiple rounds," said Manfred, who took over in the off-season from longtime Commissioner Bud Selig.
"Whenever you have a seniority-based system - which we have in baseball and which the union has always been in favor of - you're going to have lines, and when you have lines, smart people are going to manage around those lines.
"We've been open and transparent about that. It's one of the rights clubs have. Honestly, what the Cubs are trying to do there is maintain ability not to be competitive on any single day, but to be competitive over a period of time."
No all-star promises:
Rob Manfred got a look at Wrigley Field in the early stages of a massive renovation. The left-field bleachers are scheduled to reopen May 11.
The right-field bleachers are scheduled to reopen in June. Once the multiyear renovation is completed, there is a chance the Cubs could host an All-Star Game, something they have not done since 1990.
"I'm not going to get into any particular year," Manfred said. "I will say this: the interest in all-star games is probably as strong as it's ever been since I've been in the game, the twenty-something years. It's a testament to how great that product's become, but Chicago certainly would be a great venue for us."
Manfred was not overly concerned about fan inconveniences.
"I try to look at this over a longer period of time," he said. "I see the preservation of a ballpark like Wrigley Field as a really, really valuable goal not only for Chicago but for all of baseball … It's the price you pay for maintaining something that's really great."
The pace is good:
Friday's 1-0 Cubs victory was played in a relatively snappy 2 hours and 39 minutes. Major League Baseball has instituted new speedup rules to help the pace of play.
Rob Manfred talked about how it's going.
"No. 1, I think you will continue to see us proceed in a very restrained way in terms of the warnings, fines and whatnot, and we're thrilled with the early returns," Manfred said. "The game times are down, but more important to me is our people who are out watching games are just saying we feel like the games are just a little crisper, moving along.
"We've taken out dead time without altering the way the game's played, and that's what our goal was."