Red Sox had ‘much different’ meeting with Rob Manfred minutes after clash with Bryce Harper

MINNEAPOLIS — Unbeknownst to members of the Red Sox until it became public, their meeting with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred last Monday in Philadelphia came minutes after a heated conversation between Manfred and one of baseball’s biggest stars.

As ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported Monday, Phillies star Bryce Harper “stood nose to nose with Manfred during a meeting between the Major League Baseball commissioner and the team last week, telling him to ‘get the (expletive) out of our clubhouse if Manfred wanted to talk about the potential implementation of a salary cap.’” Amid growing tension between the league and players ahead of a potential work stoppage next winter, the incident illustrated how large the schism between the sides has grown.

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Across the Citizens Bank Park field, the Red Sox waited for their meeting with Manfred not knowing how contentious things had gotten on the home side of the ballpark. The commissioner was in Philadelphia’s clubhouse so long it didn’t open to reporters as scheduled that day. He arrived in the Boston clubhouse soon thereafter and held a brief — and much less contentious — meeting with the Red Sox as part of his informal rounds to see all 30 teams during the year.

“When Rob came into our clubhouse, it was right after,” said starter Lucas Giolito. “He mentioned the words ‘salary cap’ but he mentioned it in a sense of like, ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ and maybe that’s because of what Harper said. We probably had a much different meeting than they had.

“He just gave his spiel about the growth of the game and areas they’re looking to improve, especially when it comes to how baseball is being consumed. Media and TV deals, things like that. That was pretty much it. I think he avoided getting into the weeds when it comes to future CBA negotiations.”

Manfred remained in the clubhouse after the meeting ended for more casual conversations with certain players. Among them were candid talks about a variety of topics with veterans like Giolito and Walker Buehler, who asked questions about the consistency of the baseballs being used throughout the league.

Informed players like Giolito, who formerly served on the executive subcommittee of the MLB Players Association, contend that any sort of salary cap — which the owners plan to argue for in the next round of CBA negotiations — is a non-starter. But tensions didn’t rise to the point of Red Sox players telling Manfred that to his face.

“That’s, going back to the Marvin Miller days, one of the core tenets and one of the things the union tries to fight to avoid, despite years and years of owners trying to creep their way towards that,” Giolito said. “So I get where Harper’s coming from there.”

Giolito was among the Red Sox players who didn’t find out about the Manfred-Harper incident until it went public Monday, though whispers of a heated discussion had spread through baseball circles over the last seven days. Giolito, who has been involved in previous negotiations with the league, described his relationship with Manfred as “fine,” noting: “I haven’t had any interactions like that.”

Asked why things are so contentious between the sides these days, Giolito said: “It doesn’t need to be.”

“Usually it’s around CBA time when owners start complaining about not making enough money,” he explained. “It’s like, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ That’s something that rubs the players the wrong way sometimes. We make a lot of money as players, for sure. I’d like to see — not to steal terms — but the lower and middle class of baseball players, I’d like to see that strengthened.

“That’s the one thing that can kind of piss players off. You’re talking about a billion-dollar industry. These team valuations keep going up and I think that’s something that can get annoying sometimes, especially when it gets to the point of, speaking as a potential owner, ‘We need to do the salary cap or the salary floor to see more growth.’ I think things are operating pretty decent right now.

“One thing that can rub the players the wrong way sometimes is that it’s a billion dollar industry that’s seeing expansive growth. All the numbers are up from the last time I checked. Viewership. Money’s coming in. One thing I brought up to Manfred is that the money coming in from gambling, there’s all these revenue streams. The popularity of the sport is in a great spot.”