Rob Manfred Calls Out Tony Clark After MLB-MLBPA Negotiations Hit Another Impasse

All the momentum building towards finalizing a deal to start the 2020 MLB season has been completely blunted after MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's latest attempt at shifting the blame away from himself.

Manfred took a shot at MLBPA executive director Tony Clark for claiming the framework they ostensibly agreed to for a 2020 season was just a proposal, saying that he "doesn't know what he was doing there" if their meeting wasn't for the purpose of finally forging an agreement.

Manfred says he went to Arizona to make a deal with #MLBPA director Tony Clark, denying it was only a proposal: “I don’t know what Tony and I were doing there for several hours going back and forth and making trades if we weren’t reaching an agreement.”
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) June 18, 2020

The latest proposal the league threw on the table featured a 60-game regular season beginning on July 19, expanded playoffs in 2020 and 2021, and fully prorated salaries. Once again, the number of games is the sticking point for the players' union, as they want at least 70.

Clark and the union released a statement meant to clear up the confusion. The executive director once again confirmed that the union believed the entire time that they were working on another proposal during the Manfred meeting; the commissioner thought they were meant to close in on a finalized deal.

Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark today released the following statement: pic.twitter.com/MNAVfzx75C
— MLBPA Communications (@MLBPA_News) June 18, 2020

Every time negotiations take a step forward, someone or something pushes it two steps backwards. Just a few days ago, it sounded like baseball was coming back. Unfortunately, feelings between Manfred and Clark seem to have soured once again.