Major League Baseball has cleared the New York Mets and Yankees of colluding in contract talks with MVP free agent Aaron judge, according to reports from TIME Magazine and The New York Post.
“We’ve completed our investigation,” an unnamed senior MLB executive said in a statement to TIME. “And we’ve notified the MLBPA that there is no basis for any claim of collusion.”
MLB opened an investigation into possible collusion last week after a SNY.com story on Judge's possible landing sports said Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner and Mets owner Steve Cohen "enjoy a mutually respectful relationship, and do not expect to upend that with a high-profile bidding war."
Cohen and Steinbrenner were expected to provide text, phone, and email records to MLB as part of the investigation.
The MLBPA, which requested the investigation, could still appeal the decision to an independent arbitrator.
“I’m absolutely confident that the clubs behaved in a way that was consistent with the (collective bargaining) agreement,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week.
“This was based on a newspaper report. We will put ourselves in position to demonstrate credibly to the MLBPA that this is not an issue. I’m sure that’s going to be an outcome, but obviously we understand the emotion that surrounds that word (collusion) and we’ll proceed accordingly.”
Judge — coming off a historic 62-home run season with the Yankees — is the most sought-after free agent this winter and is expected to command a long-term deal north of $300 million. On Monday, he travelled home to the Bay Area where he was reportedly scheduled to meet with the San Francisco Giants.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.