ARLINGTON, Texas — Major League Baseball’s investigation into the Mets’ alleged misuse of the injured list remains ongoing, but commissioner Rob Manfred said on Friday that its resolution should be “a relatively short-term” issue.
“Before the end of the year, certainly,” Manfred said before the World Series began at Globe Life Field.
The investigation, which prompted the resignation of general manager Billy Eppler, began when MLB was tipped off to Eppler’s alleged actions by an anonymous letter.
While the use of the phantom injured list — part of a roster manipulation to help retain players that might be lost otherwise — is not considered a new phenomenon across the league, MLB’s investigation is currently focused strictly on the Mets because of the complaint.
“In terms of whether it’s more widespread, I think one of the difficulties is when you have an anonymous tip, it gives you a leg up one place that you don’t have everywhere else, so it’s hard for me to make a judgment on that issue,” Manfred said before the Rangers’ 6-5 comeback win over the Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series . “One of my directions to the [department of investigations] people is we need to finish the Mets and then we need to figure out whether we have a bigger problem.”
Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLB Players Association, said Friday that he has not received any feedback from his members on the Mets investigation.
“If for no other reason than phantom IL … is not a new concern,” Clark said. “As it has occurred or there have been concerns about it occurring in the past, we have addressed it when appropriate. … In this instance, when MLB started their investigation into the Mets, we are interested but not involved in the details.”
Manfred was asked about his level of concern over the issue.
“Whenever we have a complaint about an issue that arguably affects the integrity of the competition, it kind of goes high on the priority list,” Manfred said. “I know it doesn’t seem quite the same as some of the other issues we’ve had … but it is significant and we are going to follow up on it.”
MLB’s expanded playoff format has garnered plenty of debate in its second year, especially with all three of its 100-win teams being eliminated in the Division Series and the 84-win Diamondbacks advancing to the World Series.
“I don’t think what happened this year is all that out of line with history,” Manfred said.
“Since 1980, there’s been I don’t know how many 100-win teams. Only 11 percent of those teams have won the World Series. That’s kind of how baseball playoffs are and, frankly, how I think they should be.”
That said, Manfred indicated that the playoff format will be discussed this offseason “about whether we have it right.”
Clark expressed concern over the amount of injuries, specifically to pitchers, in today’s game.
“To see the extent that we have to put rules in place to keep players from being abused during the course of the [year], that’s a little tough for me to swallow,” Clark said. “It should be a shared interest in that regard.”
— Additional reporting by Joel Sherman