• The Players’ Association says owners acted in concert against Barry Bonds after 2007 season
As first reported by Murray Chass, the Major League Baseball Players’ Association claims to have evidence that team owners acted in concert to keep Barry Bonds out of baseball after the 2007 season.
The MLBPA won’t immediately file a grievance because of an arrangement reached with the Commissioner’s Office.From ESPN.com:
“We have the agreement about the timing of a potential grievance,” Weiner said. “Our investigation revealed a violation of the Basic Agreement. It’s a violation of the Basic Agreement related to Barry Bonds and free agency.”
Weiner said the section that had been violated was Article XX (e) of the collective bargaining agreement, which states, in part: “Players shall not act in concert with other players and clubs shall not act in concert with other clubs.” Weiner would not say how long the agreement runs to allow the union to file a grievance.
When I read that the filing of the grievance was being delayed I assumed it was because baseball didn’t want to deal with this problem during the World Series. Murray Chass offers this insight:
When it believes it has a case, the union doesn’t usually delay filing a grievance. Considering its history with collusion and the fact that Bonds is a high-profile player, it would seem more likely that the union would act as quickly as possible.
In this instance, though, the union is waiting, a baseball official said, for Bonds to get beyond the trial he faces on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from his grand jury testimony in the Balco case.
Barry Bonds isn’t scheduled to go to court until March 2, 2009. By then he’ll have missed an entire season, and the ’09 spring training in addition to being 44 years old. Bonds might get a little money if the MLBPA proceeds with and wins the grievance but he’s never suiting up for a major league team again.
