We're going to be without big league baseball for the foreseeable future, launching a sport that feels like its death throes. It is in some ways. When MLB comes back, the playoffs will involve at least 12 teams, and the summer drama that was once so thrilling before the wild card will officially turn into little more than a six-month confirmation of what everyone knows at the start of spring training, with room for one or two surprise teams Even the NHL, after they blew up the league in 2005, came back with rule changes and other things to make. That is what baseball needs. Go into the skid until we hit the ravine. It's the only way. When the labor dispute ends, Rob Manfred has to go. He became toxic because he was a worse commissioner than Bud Selig, who at least liked baseball. The workforce will never trust him, the public dislikes him, and his bosses can point to a Seligian record of labor peace and continued growth as reasons to keep him around. The public views the job of a commissioner of baseball as one that they should do. The position of steward of the sport is still seen as impartiality even though they are paid by the owners. Even though they are clearly the owners, Roger and Adam Silver succeed at this. Gary Bettman is seen as loving money more than the game, even if it is true.
MLB needs a public-facing leader who can get the message across that the league's priority is baseball, not the other way around. They need someone who the players will respect, who the fans will accept, and who can represent the establishment while seeming cool about it.
Major League Baseball needs a captain.
He is available after leaving his role as CEO. He has strong ties to management and everyone knows what he did as a player. It will be a lot easier for those who are resistant to change to accept it if Jeter is the person rolling out the ideas.
The heavy labor lifting that Manfred has done has gotten him to where he is today. The part of the job that needs to be out of the commissioner's role. MLB can promote Dan Halem from deputy commissioner to CEO and have him and Morgan Sword continue their quest to maximize every possible revenue stream. The relationship between the commissioner and the players should not be affected by that.
Why would a man with millions of dollars want a job like that? It is a role that can and should be designed to make Jeter look good, because it is a role that can and should be designed to get the focus of baseball back on baseball. If he played it right, the man who saved baseball could go down as a Hall of Famer. Alex Rodriguez was the part-owner of a second-rate basketball team.
We need to accept that MLB isn't going to do the things that it needs to do for the right reasons, but we need to convince Jeter to be commissioner once a labor deal is reached. Even though he might be popular, he won't ruin the tradition of commissioners getting booed by the crowd whenever he goes to Boston.
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