Grading MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred After His First Year

Today marks the 366th day that Rob Manfred has been the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. After taking over for Bud Selig, many questioned whether Manfred would simply be “Bud Lite,” a somewhat understandable feeling in 2015 when he was more or less handpicked by Selig.

Time has moved on, and while Manfred will be linked to Selig in many ways early on, as it is with all those that lead in business, eventually they begin to show trademarks of their own.

With Manfred now officially having one full year under his belt, it seemed like a good time to grade him on his efforts. First off, Manfred has yet to see any head winds. No potential major crisis that has surfaced in the news. Nothing that has yet worked through any appeals process by the union for the players. As a first year goes, Manfred has gone unscathed.

Still, there are aspects of his early years leading Major League Baseball that are worth looking at as they likely offer clues as to how he will approach matters at the end of his tenure, whenever that will be. Some bode well for the owners. Some bode well for fans. Some bode well for the bottom line. Here’s Manfred’s grades on several issues as he officially enters Year Two of his commissionership.

Relationship With The Owners

Those that followed his processor will tell you, Bud Selig was a master consensus builder. He was often described as having Reagan-esq qualities that showed most brightly when he was able to take 30 squabbling and detracted owners and align them into a formidable force after years of being beat up by Marvin Miller, Donald Fehr, and the union for the players. But Selig worked well one-on-one and then went about pulling the individual pieces together.

Manfred on the other hand is building consensus by taking high and low-revenue making owners and having them directly part of the process. Where Selig worked well with small groups, Manfred works well with the whole.

GRADE: A

Forrás: http://www.forbes.com