Well, that happened all in a hurry. Tony Clark is out, and he’s out not because of some politicized or tactical derailment, but because of what looks like a series of bad personal decisions. The news of his resignation apparently came as a shock to players, who now need to approve interim leadership as they hurtle towards another set of fractious labor negotiations with ownership this winter (and beyond).
Who is going to receive that interim mantle isn’t clear, to say nothing of longer-term responsibility.
Bruce Meyer exists, and has already survived one attempted ouster, but clearly isn’t unanimously popular with players or the ouster attempt wouldn’t have materialized. To the extent Meyer’s fortunes were tied to Clark’s, well… that’s not auspicious. (The three players that were instrumental in trying to move on from Meyer — Ian Happ, Lucas Giolito, and Jack Flaherty — all lost their committee spots in the aftermath.)
Scott Boras is always lurking around the periphery, but is apparently unpopular enough with players that aren’t his clients that they accuse him of having “outsize” influence in union proceedings here and there. He probably doesn’t have the buy-in to get a nod, but he’s also very pugnacious and persistent.
Harry Marino was the MiLB CBA negotiator that Happ and the Harvard-Westlake boys wanted to replace Meyer, but since that coup attempt failed, it’s unclear whether there’s any more wind blowing in those particular sails.
It’s harder to speculate on outside hires, because the field is so large. That said, it appears to be unnecessary, because as Brent Suter suggested yesterday, the players already know who’s next up and aren’t going to conduct a search at this moment. That seems to point to Meyer just because he’s an obvious ready, able, and willing option, but surprising things have happened before.
Anyway, get to guessing. We’ll probably find out soon.
