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MLB Notebook: Rob Manfred open to letting MLB players participate in 2028 Olympics
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Photo credit: © Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports
Brett Holden
Jul 18, 2024, 19:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 18, 2024, 19:25 EDT
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Rob Manfred is open to allowing MLB players to participate in the 2028 Olympics

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says he would be open to allowing Major League ballplayers to participate in the 2028 Olympics.
Before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Baseball had not been included in the games since 2008. No current MLB players were allowed to play in 2020 but it did see numerous former and future Major Leaguers, including Emilio Bonifacio, Jose Bautista, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Masataka Yoshida, and Joe Ryan.
There were a few players who had not yet made their MLB debut like Ryan, Shane Baz, and Triston Casas, but no full-time players. However, current stars like Bryce Harper have been vocal about wanting to play at the Olympics.
“The Olympics is something you dream about playing in. If I have a chance to put my nation’s colours on and represent as I did at 18 and 16, then I would love it.”
There has never been a time when active MLB players were allowed to participate in the Olympic games. Only amateurs and players not currently on a 40-man roster; That could change very shortly.
While Manfred is open to the idea, there are numerous semantics that need to be figured out before players would be allowed to play. But, Manfred has already taken the next steps to see what it would take to have MLB Olympians, chatting with the head of the Los Angeles Olympics, Casey Wasserman, to see what can be done ahead of 2028.
“I sat with Casey last week, we’re talking about what can be done. What exactly would it look like? What are the compromises that we would have to make in terms of our season? So I remain open-minded on that topic.“
But it hasn’t just been Harper that has been vocal about Olympic participation and the MLB; Los Angeles Dodgers star, Shohei Ohtani, has also stated the importance of having the pros in the games.
“In the Olympics especially, there will be more chances for people who normally don’t watch baseball to watch. In that sense, I think it’s something that’s very important for baseball.”
Based on the recent success of the World Baseball Classic in 2023 and the striking final image of the tournament with Ohtani vs Trout, it only makes sense to place the sport’s biggest stars on one of the biggest stages.

Potential changes to trading draft picks are looming

Commissioner Rob Manfred also spoke about the potential of changing the way draft picks are traded around the league.
Currently, only competitive balance draft picks are allowed to be traded by teams in the MLB, which not every team in the league possesses. Competitive balance picks are only awarded to teams that bring in lower revenue or sit in a smaller market.
Since 2018, a draft pick has been included in 14 total trades, but those trades normally netted quite a return. Players like Paul Goldschmidt, Randy Arozarena, Corbin Burnes, Yandy Diaz, and Carlos Santana have all been involved in trades that included a draft pick.
But, unlike every other major sports league in North America, teams are unable to trade regular draft picks owned by the organization.
However, the change would not happen overnight. Manfred says owners should be handed more flexibility when it comes to trading picks, but a change in the system would need to be negotiated in the next CBA.
While the other leagues allow trading picks, none of the other leagues have the farm system and development programs like Major League Baseball. Some organizations employ players through seven different levels of baseball, meaning they could have upwards of 290 players signed to a contract. Of those 290, only 26 are allowed to be on the Major League roster during the season, 28 in September.
The argument against allowing baseball teams to trade draft picks is the fact that many teams are already willing to trade prospects regularly. Quite often you see trades with multiple prospects who aren’t even in the top 30 of the organization’s pipeline; So, what’s the difference in trading the 16th-round pick if you are already trading a Single-A level ball player? Why would you hand owners another opportunity to potentially sabotage the development of their organization?
While the debate is valid, Manfred seems to shoot down the idea of overusing assets, saying “I think it would be stupid.” Manfred also thinks that he would be blocking clubs from using the resources already at their disposal.
“I don’t think we have that many stupid clubs. We’ll see how it shakes out…The clubs are really sophisticated now. I do think that there’s a really good argument for allowing them to decide how to use their resources.”
The current collective bargaining agreement for the MLB is set to expire on December 1st, 2026.

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