Phillies' Bryce Harper confronted MLB commissioner Rob Manfred over salary cap talk

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 28, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper confronted Rob Manfred last week over the issue of a salary cap in baseball, a major league source confirmed Monday.

Harper spoke out near the beginning of the Phillies’ meeting with Manfred before a July 21 game at Citizens Bank Park, according to the source, and told the commissioner to leave the clubhouse if he was there to discuss an eventual change in the sport’s economic system to include a salary cap.

News of the altercation was initially reported by ESPN.com and the New York Post.

Since the 99-day lockout in 2021-22, Manfred has met annually with all 30 teams in an attempt to improve his relationship with the players. He held back-to-back meetings with the Phillies and Red Sox last week in Philadelphia.

With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire after next season — Dec. 1, 2026, to be precise — the owners’ desire for a salary cap is expected to be the primary disagreement between the sides. The MLBPA has long been opposed to a cap. Two weeks ago, at the All-Star Game, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark described the idea of a salary cap as “institutionalized collusion.”

Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The commissioner’s office didn’t have plans to issue a statement on the interaction between Harper and Manfred. But Manfred broadly discussed his message to players in a meeting with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America at the All-Star Game in Atlanta two weeks ago.

“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary-cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred said. “Literally what I say to them is, I identify a problem that we need to work together, and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem. I never use the word ‘salary’ within one [word] of ‘cap.’

“What I do say to them is, in addressing this competitive issue that’s real, we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective. My only goal there is not to convince them of one system or another, but it is to convince them that everybody going to the table with an open mind to try to address a problem that’s fan-driven leads to a better collective bargaining process and a better outcome.”

Harper, seven seasons into a 13-year, $330 million contract, rarely weighs in on baseball’s labor matters, though his lack of public statements shouldn’t be confused with apathy. Asked after the resolution of the collective bargaining agreement in 2022 if he followed MLB’s work stoppage, Harper said he was in touch with several high-ranking union members, including Gerrit Cole and Max Scherzer.

“I was with it every day,” he said then. “I think you want to know what’s going on. It’s your job, it’s what you do, so definitely was with it every day.”

There’s concern within the sport that another lockout will ensue when the CBA expires after next season, with the possibility that a work stoppage could drag into the 2027 season.

Although Manfred has not publicly said the owners are hellbent on a salary cap, it has been among their longest pursuits. Among the major North American professional sports leagues, MLB is the only one without a cap.

“A cap is not about a partnership,” MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said at the All-Star Game. “A cap is not about growing the game. That’s not what a cap is about. As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That’s what a cap is about.

“If there are ways that we need to improve the existing system, to polish some of the rough edges that otherwise exist, we have made proposals to do that. We will continue to make proposals to do that.”

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