ESPN’s Jeff Passan recently was on Puck’s “The Varsity” podcast hosted by John Ourand and discussed several issues facing MLB. The league’s current CBA expires following the 2026 season, and Passan noted the potential of introducing a salary cap is “part of the conversation right now … in the way that it has not been in past labor negotiations that I’ve covered.” Here are some excerpts from the podcast:
- On a salary cap: “Owners are now saying the quiet part out loud. It’s not just owners. It’s Dick Monfort, Colorado Rockies owner who is the most powerful person on Major League Baseball’s labor committee. Dick Monfort is in basic agreement discussion meetings. He’s talking with the union. He’s someone who puts in the time and the effort and brings his perspective. It’s a loud perspective, and one where he has now said, ‘I would not be opposed to some sort of restraining system.’ If that’s the case, baseball will not be played in 2027. I think it’s as simple as that.”
- On a potential work stoppage after the 2026 season: “I hope that the gentlemen who are involved in this study up on their history a little bit. Because right now, baseball cannot afford 1994 again. It is not in a strong enough position in the sporting zeitgeist to weather losing a full year of games. If it is ‘salary cap or bust,’ there will be a full year that is lost.”
- On the most powerful MLB owners: “That is something that is evolving, because I think a couple years ago, Steve Cohen’s name would not have made that list. ... Bill DeWitt with the Cardinals always has the commissioner’s ear. Terry McGuirk in Atlanta is a guy. John Middleton in Philadelphia. Dick Monfort at the end of the day, like he’s the big dog. There’s a group of guys, Ken Kendrick and Arte Moreno, who have been around for a while now and who have a pretty outsized voice. … They’re the ones who do not like the direction in which the game has gone and feel like things need to be paired back some” (“The Varsity,” PUCK, 5/7).
