{"id":577763,"date":"2026-02-17T16:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/577763\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:23:13","slug":"mets-marcus-semien-reacts-to-news-that-mlbpa-boss-tony-clark-is-quitting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/577763\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets’ Marcus Semien reacts to news that MLBPA boss Tony Clark is quitting"},"content":{"rendered":"

PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Marcus Semien found out that Tony Clark plans to resign from his post<\/a> as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association the same way the rest of the world found out: A news alert on his phone.<\/p>\n

Tuesday morning\u2019s news came without warning to members of the MLBPA, leaving them shocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery sad to see because Tony has meant a lot to me since I was a rookie,\u201d said the Mets second baseman, a member of the MLBPA\u2019s executive subcommittee. \u201cHe helped me [get] involved in 2020, a time where we couldn\u2019t play baseball. Just learning everything about the ins and outs of what happens between the league and players, so to see this news this morning, I\u2019m still processing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semien thinks Clark\u2019s exit was due to the federal investigation into financial improprieties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that there has been an investigation going on in terms of information regarding the investigation,\u201d Semien said. \u201cIt\u2019s still going on, but you know, we still need to discuss with players like, why are you going? You definitely don\u2019t want things to be a distraction going into December. So that\u2019s all I can really say about maybe why this is happening now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire Dec. 1. Owners are expected to lock players out for the second time since 2021, with owners pushing hard for a salary cap, and the union pushing back.<\/p>\n

Mets owner and CEO Steve Cohen is not among those pushing for a salary cap, at least not yet. This news comes one day after Cohen said he has not made up his mind about a cap<\/a>, but is listening to all sides.<\/p>\n

Semien, who joined the Mets in December after being traded for Brandon Nimmo, was in a team meeting when news broke. He returned to the clubhouse at the Mers\u2019 Clover Park complex to find a news alert on his phone, and communication from the MLBPA. The next step will be talking with the subcommittee, and player representatives from each team. Given the timing of the news, Semien said the group won\u2019t be able to meet until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest, sometime after spring training workouts.<\/p>\n

Semien said the subcommittee members have received relevant information about the investigation as it\u2019s made available, and they understand the department of justice has other cases and works on its own timeline.<\/p>\n

The union last changed leadership in 2013 when executive director Michael Weiner passed away from a brain tumor. He was succeeded by Clark, his deputy. Clark was the first former player to lead the union.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how long that takes. This is all new,\u201d Semien said. \u201cI don\u2019t think something like this has ever happened. I was not a player rep when Michael Weiner got sick, but that was the only time it was like we kind of needed to replace [a director], or have someone internal or something. So these are things that we\u2019ll try and iron out as soon as possible because, like I said, it\u2019s a big year for our player group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semien said that while much is still unknown, it\u2019s better for Clark to resign now, before the season even begins, than to do so closer to December. The MLBPA is considered the strongest union in sports, and they\u2019ll now have time to create a game plan for negotiations with owners and the league this winter. As far as Semien knows, Bruce Meyer, the MLBPA\u2019s executive deputy director, is still expected to be the lead negotiator for the group in CBA talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp to this point, or any investigations, I\u2019ve had the ultimate confidence in this player group, I\u2019ve had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group,\u201d Semien said. \u201cThat team continuity between those two going through the COVID lockout \u2014 that\u2019s what I call it \u2014 to the actual lockout that we had in \u201921, that was a strong team. So we\u2019ll have to make some adjustments along the way, but I\u2019m still processing what happened and thinking about what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next is the question all of baseball is asking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Marcus Semien found out that Tony Clark plans to resign from his post as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,16812,11972,75675,386,101,4,11023,1690,61,2548,4203,151,324],"class_list":{"0":"post-577763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cba","10":"tag-labor","11":"tag-lockout","12":"tag-marcus-semien","13":"tag-mets","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-mlbpa","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-mets","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkmets","20":"tag-spring-training","21":"tag-tony-clark"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116086899056019182","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}