[Rosenthal/Drelich] As lockout looms, MLB agents set aside rivalries to unite against salary cap

posted by u/TheAthletic · 2026-11-06 10:59 UTC

Media day at the All-Star Game doesn’t simply consist of reporters racing from table to table, scrambling to interview players in a crowded space. Agents also saunter through the premises, eyeing each other warily, puffing out their chests as they brush past each other.

This year, though, was a little different.

Before the start of the press scrums in Philadelphia, league officials instructed agents to wait behind the center-field fence, “like putting all their inmates together,” said Joel Wolfe of The Team, an agency that represents pitchers Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, among other big names.

Some of the agents hail from larger companies that represent players in salary-cap sports, and they started to talk, Wolfe said. Rather than engage in their usual fear and loathing, they found common ground, exchanging cautionary tales about how some of their agencies’ NBA clients fared under that sport’s salary-cap system.

“We have heard a lot of the same stories,” Wolfe said. “Over our dead bodies are we going to accept a cap and further restraints on salaries.”

As Major League Baseball continues making cap proposals to baseball’s Players Association, this week offering to delay implementation from 2027 to 2028, agents are growing emboldened.

While many agents generally refrain from speaking out publicly, a number are incensed by the way commissioner Rob Manfred is guiding the negotiating process, which is expected to result in a lockout in December.

Read the rest here for free: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7757295/2026/11/06/mlb-lockout-player-agents/?unlocked_article_code=1.OVE.B3G6.Ad0nQtEs1vpR&source=emp_shared_article&smid=url-share-ta

Original link: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7751003/2026/11/03/mlb-league-salary-cap-proposal-delayed-2028/

## Top comments

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2. u/Sh11ester · 2026-11-06 13:09 UTC

A bunch of agents that would probably start making more money when the Marlins realize they'll have to spend an extra 100 million a year on payroll. Where do they think that money will go? To all of the players of the league, not just Borus clients anymore

3. u/MediocreHomework7092 · 2026-11-06 13:27 UTC

When almost 19 teams have to spend money to get over the floor its ridiculous that they fight for the 4 teams over the proposed cap. Their top free agent client goes from have 5 teams making offers to 30 teams that can make an offer.

4. u/TheKingofKintyre · 2026-11-06 12:31 UTC

I wonder if the agents are willing to forego some of their own fees and rates to help ensure players make more money?

5. u/Affectionate-Key9412 · 2026-11-06 12:36 UTC

Wow, such heroes