Agents finding common ground in response to MLB's hardline approach

While baseball agents work in a competitive environment that can often create rivalries and magnify professional differences, the agent community is standing united in the face of MLB's planned lockout in December and its continued push for a salary cap in the next CBA, according to a new report.

Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of the The Athletic spoke to several agents who said the hardline approach by commissioner Rob Manfred and the 30 team owners has only served to strengthen the resolve of both players and agents to hold the line in CBA negotiations.

"I haven't seen this level of solidarity among the players since 1994, and I've never felt as strongly about the players' resolve to stand up to MLB's disingenuous arguments,'' Seth Levinson of ACES told The Athletic.

Several agents have publicly taken issue with MLB's relentless PR campaign, the owners' insistence on a salary cap amid skyrocketing franchise values, and the push for an economic system that has become increasingly more unpopular with players in the NBA and other cap sports. Agents also say owners are claiming the game is broken amid overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

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

Click here for a link to The Athletic piece, "As lockout looms, MLB agents set aside rivalries to unite against salary cap''