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MLB came close to expanding rosters Rob Manfred says, really close

June 7, 2017

DENVER — After a deal to expand the regular season roster from 25 to 26 players fell apart between the MLB player’s union (MLBPA) and Rob Manfred in its final bargaining stages over the winter, Manfred is discussing the intention behind the change.

Speaking to reporters at Coors Field on Wednesday, he explained the intentions behind the change.

“The first part of the trade…had two purposes,” Manfred said. “One was to make sure the economics balanced out. That is, the same number of service days would be earned in aggregate. So the players as a whole were not losing out on service days. And to address fatigue issues. We play a very tough schedule and obviously, the availability of another player would have helped in that regard.”

The second part of the deal Manfred references would have reduced the active roster in September from 40 players to 28. The expansion to 40 active players in the final month of the season has allowed for managers to play more favorable matchups.

Manfred said many see the 40-man active roster as too much of a change to the conditions from the rest of the season, which the deal was intended to address more than pace of play issues.

“More and more you are hearing people in the game saying it doesn’t make sense for us to play our most important games –September games — under a different set of rules than we play all year long,” Manfred said. “Parenthetically, I would add that more available players probably adds to the length and lack of pace in games because you make pitching changes and all of those good things.”

While the change would have helped to avoid players reaching fatigue and possibly helped address player injuries, Manfred also acknowledged that the 10-day DL — instituted to address the same issues –hasn’t had a proven impact yet.

“The 10-day DL, I think the jury’s still out,” Manfred said. “It always takes a year or so, I think, to figure out what you’ve done, and I think that’s about where we are on the 10-day DL.”