Bruce Meyer was “unanimously elected” to be the seventh Exec Dir in the history of the MLBPA on Wednesday and will take over “on an interim basis, but is expected to hold the position through negotiations” over baseball’s next CBA. Matt Nussbaum “was also promoted” on Wednesday, to interim Deputy Exec Dir. He was formerly general counsel. Meyer’s election came in a “vote of major- and minor-league players” that was taken by the union’s executive board, which has seats for 38 big leaguers -- eight players on the subcommittee, and one player rep from each club -- as well as 34 minor leaguers (THE ATHLETIC, 2/18).
Meyer is “considered the union’s most fierce litigator since the days of Don Fehr and Gene Orza," and once again Wednesday “expressed his deep resentment towards MLB’s hopes for a salary cap, believing that a lockout Dec. 1 is inevitable” when the CBA expires. Meyer said that he and his staff “have a duty to the players to listen to whatever MLB offers,” but “showed his disdain towards even entertaining a salary cap” (USA TODAY, 2/18).
