Rob Manfred to leave role as MLB a commissioner in 2029 after his current contract

[MMC]

Click to read more...

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Let's hope he undoes the stupid schedule format he put in place last year as one of his last acts before leaving office, which would take effect in 2029 ideally with expansion to 32 teams.

 

[These Are The Days]

And the world rejoices

 

[LadyStanley]

Rob Manfred says he will retire as baseball commissioner in January 2029 after 14 years

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday he will retire when his current term ends in January 2029. Speaking at a spring training news conference, Manfred noted he will be 70 years old and will have been commissioner for 14 years when his term ends on Jan. 25, 2029. Manfred, 65...

news.yahoo.com

Yahoo Sports article

 

[Voight]

Meh, Selig kept pushing back his retirement date so I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Moose Head]

Hopefully he’s gone before he can install a hula hoop competition to decide games tied after nine innings.

 

[KevFu]

I'm actually hoping Tampa and Oakland stadium deals stall out now, so Manfred doesn't ruin baseball with radical realignment on his way out the door.

 

[ponder719]

I'm actually hoping Tampa and Oakland stadium deals stall out now, so Manfred doesn't ruin baseball with radical realignment on his way out the door.

I'm not prepared to hope that Manfred's replacement won't have broadly similar views on things. He's not getting run out of town on rails, which suggests that the owners don't seem to object to his thought process, and they're the ones deciding who takes over.

 

[DustyDangler]

Manfred makes Bettman look good.

 

[KevFu]

I'm not prepared to hope that Manfred's replacement won't have broadly similar views on things. He's not getting run out of town on rails, which suggests that the owners don't seem to object to his thought process, and they're the ones deciding who takes over.

My hope is that the next commish is Theo Epstein.

The rule changes study and implementation he did shows how he's not just someone who has an idea, decides its good, runs with it and then has to deal with unforseen consequences later.

Which is basically what Manfred's tenure has been all about:
Like, not putting 2-and-2 together on how "seeing every team in baseball is good for fans" while not grasping that RSNs are struggling to pay the teams, and playing every western team in MLB every season instead of half of them could not really help that.

I think that Manfred is an A or B guy: No one steals bases anymore, we can make the baselines 89 feet, nine inches or keep them at 90 feet.

While Theo is someone who hears the goal, realizes there's many ways to accomplish the goal, knows consequences are real, and comes up with "if we make the bases 1.5 inches bigger, it's 89-9 from first to second for steals, and still 90 from home to first. All the positives, none of the negatives.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

It's important to remember that the commissioner serves at the behest of the owners.

 

[KevFu]

It's important to remember that the commissioner serves at the behest of the owners.

Yes, but leadership is still a massive factor. The commish serves the owners, but when you have 30 guys in different situations all with the day-to-day of their corporate empires; and the commish dealing with the day-to-day of league-wide business... there's still a massive gap between someone who's reactive and someone's who pro-active; and who has a narrow field of vision based on "this is what we did before" vs someone who sees every angle and the ramifications of each.

You want a guy who's like "This dude plays 3D chess" and not someone who sees only two options. We judge a commissioner by how they REACT to things, but the tenure of commisioners are really defined by the PROACTIVE leadership.

Manfred is reacting to a lot of things quite well: COVID. RSN crisis. "Three-outcomes baseball" being sped up. He is reacting to Oakland and Tampa poorly, with "aw shucks, what can we do? Root for the Giants I guess."

But his proactive things are atrocious: Moving Houston to AL and year round interleague play and playing everyone once. And reorganizing the minors.

Those are examples of "ideas with strong merit behind them" but making decisions as a reactionary and not a visionary. Is it better than now? Yes, let's do it. (Moving Houston).

A visionary says "well, what's the ideal way? Can we do that? How close to that can we get?"
A visionary says "it SOUNDS good on paper, but what's the ramifications?" (play everyone once).


Selig's reaction to things was not very good, but his proactive things were largely fantastic. Unifying umpires and league business (the massive screwup of the SF/OAK typo not withstanding), and most importantly, proactively starting MLBAM, adding BILLIONS of revenue to the league.

 

[Voight]

I'm not prepared to hope that Manfred's replacement won't have broadly similar views on things. He's not getting run out of town on rails, which suggests that the owners don't seem to object to his thought process, and they're the ones deciding who takes over.

Manfred was Seligs lackey for years so its more than likely whoever takes over from him will of the same ilk.