{"id":2288417,"date":"2026-02-19T01:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2288417"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:16:21","slug":"kc-royals-meet-with-mlbpa-amid-recent-executive-shakeup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/kc-royals-meet-with-mlbpa-amid-recent-executive-shakeup\/","title":{"rendered":"KC Royals meet with MLBPA amid recent executive shakeup"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\nSURPRISE, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n

A seismic shift rocked the Major League Baseball Players Association on Tuesday morning when news broke that executive director Tony Clark had resigned<\/a> following a reported internal investigation.<\/p>\n

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Clark had spearheaded the MLBPA since 2013. His role involved negotiating and advocating for the players through labor discussions. And perhaps the biggest contention happens to be the looming collective bargaining agreement battle this year.<\/p>\n

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The CBA will expire on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

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MLB owners are set to push for a salary cap. The MLBPA strongly pushed back on that<\/a> with Clark remaining vocal in meetings with teams and when speaking with the press.<\/p>\n

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However, things changed over the last few days.<\/p>\n

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An internal investigation, according to ESPN reporting, revealed Clark had an inappropriate relationship<\/a> with his sister-in-law. There is also an open federal investigation into the MLBPA\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

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The MLBPA put out a statement<\/a> Tuesday night. Now, the union will look for a new executive director to move forward.<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday, MLBPA representatives arrived at Kansas City Royals camp in Surprise, Arizona. There was an early meeting where players gained information about the recent proceedings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was a good meeting,\u201d said John Schreiber, who is the Royals\u2019 player representative. \u201cA lot of questions from guys and a lot of positive feedback. So feeling good about where we are right now. Obviously, it\u2019s a little bit of a disappointment. A little bit of a challenge with what came out yesterday and all that stuff. But, you know, the unity and strength we have from this union from the players is what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer was in attendance. He addressed media members<\/a> on a wide-range of topics after the meeting.<\/p>\n

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One of the biggest questions is whether he will become the new MLBPA executive director in succession of Clark. The decision will ultimately come down to a player vote that could happen quickly.<\/p>\n

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The players will consider a few options.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on internal discussions about that,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cI think what we all want \u2014 and again, those of us, you know, senior staff at the union \u2014 is that we want the union to be in a good place. We want the union to remain strong. That\u2019s all any of us care about. We all dedicated our careers at this union and other unions. … We trust in the players and the player leaders to do what they think is in the best interest of the union.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The MLBPA wants to retain a unified front. Schreiber hinted at a possible decision \u2014 regarding the interim executive director \u2014 could happen as soon as Wednesday night. From the Royals perspective, he will chat with the players to get their thoughts.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think we are going on the right path and I think we will have a decision shortly,\u201d Schreiber said.<\/p>\n

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Meyer noted that the next executive director will be decided by the MLBPA executive board. It includes 72 members (38 major-leaguers and 34 minor leaguers). There are subcommittees within that executive board.<\/p>\n

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The MLBPA expressed confidence that the abrupt change in leadership doesn\u2019t erase the work done to support the players.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t emphasize this enough,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say this is like a nothing and there is not going to be some disruptions. But at the end of the day, bargaining is the most important thing. It\u2019s always been the most important thing. Our team has been preparing for that, again, for years and it remains in place. Players have been educated on the issues that are going to come up for years. And so, it\u2019s not going to affect bargaining in any respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The MLBPA and the league will have discussions throughout the season. The MLBPA is against a salary cap. It will likely be a sticking point as multiple owners are in favor of the capped system.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe will evaluate and analyze anything that\u2019s offered,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cWe will report to our players and give them our recommendations. Our position and the historic position of this union for decades on salary cap is well known. It\u2019s the ultimate restriction. It\u2019s something that owners, you know, in all the sports have wanted more than anything. In baseball, you know in particular, there\u2019s a reason for that, because it\u2019s good for them and not good for players.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The labor negotiations between the MLBPA and league owners will loom over the 2026 campaign as the clock ticks toward the CBA expiration date.<\/p>\n

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And Tuesday\u2019s news only created more subplots to the upcoming negotiations.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe will be ready, and I anticipate that (labor negotiations) will operate on a normal schedule starting sometime in the spring,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n

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\n
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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. A seismic shift rocked the Major League Baseball Players Association on Tuesday morning when news broke that executive director Tony Clark had resigned following a reported internal investigation. Clark had spearheaded the MLBPA since 2013. His role involved negotiating and advocating for the players through labor discussions. And perhaps the biggest contention happens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[43627,443435,25866,437235,443436],"class_list":["post-2288417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-labor-negotiations","tag-mlb","tag-mlbpa","tag-salary-cap"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Cole-Ragans-shines-as-KC-Royals-finish-2025-on-high.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2288417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2288418,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2288417\/revisions\/2288418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2288417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2288417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2288417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}