Attention everyone, Rob Manfred is bad at his job.
And I don't mean having a bad day or just not feeling it. Manfred continues to make boneheaded calls as the top decision maker in Major League Baseball.
It seems like every year Manfred does something to make you wonder how he ever got to be the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (throws up in his mouth a little).
If you thought Bud Selig wasn't great or Gary Bettman's work in the NHL was rough, allow me to introduce you to Robert. You may think differently of those guys when you are done reading this. This isn't the kind of guy you ask to leave the office; he needs to be thrown out of the building. And save me the weak argument that MLB commissioners are set up to fail. That included, Manfred is still very bad at his job.
Here are 5 reasons he's a joke. Don't worry about stretching your memory too much, because these are all relatively recent.
5. The Joe Kelly incident
Wednesday, Manfred and the league suspended Kelly for eight games. Now, that's 8 games in a 60 game season, which is just about 14% of the season.
This suspension was handed out due to the incident at Tuesday night's game between Kelly's Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros, who cheated their way to a World Series in 2017. They did that at the hands of those very Dodgers, whom Houston outlasted in seven games. Kelly threw a few baseballs around and over Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa during last night's game, which cleared the benches and led Kelly to creating the facial expression best used for 2020, a cheeky frown.
That was it. Tempers were mostly calm, and Bregman didn't do a thing when a 96 mph fastball sailed over his head. While it wasn't as kind as hearing the thump of a trash can lid, I bet Bregman was okay with it. According to Ken Rosenthal, the suspension was harsh, and he's not lying.
Kelly wasn't exactly innocent, but nothing he did warranted eight games, whether during a pandemic-shortened season or any other season. Manfred dished out a tougher punishment to him than any single Houston Astros player for their involvement in the cheating scandal. That's weak, Robert.
#4) Being a puppet for MLB owners
Throughout the MLB owners-players union dispute about proper pay for the shortened season, Manfred was essentially a blank talking head. Whatever the owners wanted him to say publicly, they most likely wrote it on a teleprompter and told him to read it. He was a mere puppet at a time when the league and their fans needed a renegade. The commissioner shouldn't be governed by his employees or the people who work alongside him; he needs to be the law.
Maybe for once, a woman should take over the job. Someone who can stand up to the owners and tell them to settle down with their financial worries. Someone to calm the players and ensure that they are being taken care of.
Someone hopefully not named Robert Manfred.
#3) He'll be the one who buries thousands of minor league players
Manfred has used the unfortunate yet timely 2020 season to cut off minor league action. Due to the coronavirus and ensuing pandemic, Manfred basically disabled the minor league season, giving MLB teams a taxi squad that works out of a spring training-type facility. That's it. An entire year wasted in so many young players' lives. What happens in 2021? Will it all come back or will Manfred see it fit to discontinue or cut down on the leagues. Maybe he eliminates the Double-A ball circuit. Who knows? I know this: Seeing Manfred make this decision will be painful. He doesn't make good calls.
#2) He pledged lesser games in 2020, but then added an extended playoff schedule
Maybe you can log this one under one of the above, or maybe not. With Manfred, it's all a shade of bad. After back and forth negotiations this summer, with Manfred moving the goalposts forward and back, everybody seemingly agreed to a 60 game season. Then, at the last minute, Manfred and baseball put out a wickedly amateur playoff structure that includes 16 total teams making the playoffs. A good commissioner doesn't let a schedule change shapes and sizes so many times.
#1) Manfred doesn't care about you
You are the consumer, and he doesn't care about you or what you want. It's his game and as many times as he can change or alter it, Manfred will do it. It's his way and something that is alienating people. He proposed all these changes for the game, but none of them were truly for the fan. All he cares about is green and the integrity of the game is fatally left out. You could ask anyone on the street and Manfred's morals and compassion are missing. He doesn't care about the exact people who helped the sport generate $11 billion in revenue last year.
He's a joke and everybody knows it. If MLB had any sense, they'd find a way to boot him out of office before baseball really goes downhill.
