Chaos At The Top: What Tony Clark’s Exit Means For The MLBPA & The 2026 CBA

Tony Clark is set to resign from his position as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director. The Athletic was the first to report Clark's decision to resign.

BREAKING: MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is resigning, sources tell The Athletic. With @Ken_Rosenthal and @ByMcCullough https://t.co/B2ecALRkwt

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 17, 2026

The Players on Clark's Decision

Clark's decision to step down was very sudden. "I just found out right now, when I got done with our meeting. But we've all known, or a lot of people have known, that the investigation has been going on, right?" said Marcus Semien, Mets second baseman, to reporters at Port St. Lucie. "I think that this happening during the investigation is not like, as a subcommittee, it's not like overly surprising, but it still hurts, and still something I'm processing. And I just want our player group to, you know, move forward this year and be able to have a good, good year of negotiating with, you know, leadership that cares about what players want." Semien, a member of the players' special counsel, also added that he thought the resignation on Tuesday was related to the accusations by the New York Eastern District.

Another player on the subcommittee with a lot of pull, Tarik Skubal, also spoke on the resignation from the Tigers camp. "It's tough. I haven't really seen everything that's come out. I know we have a call this afternoon, and we'll get more information on it and how to communicate it to the rest of our team. It's tough, obviously, the stuff that I've seen so far, but it doesn't really change the state of the union. I think we're still as strong as ever. The union has always been about the players, and it's up to us to accomplish what we want to accomplish."

Clark was the first former player to become the leader of the MLBPA. Over his time, he oversaw some of the most impactful CBA negotiations in recent memory, most recently the 2022 CBA.

The Ripple Effects on the upcoming CBA Negotiations

On December 1st, the owners will lock out the players to negotiate a new CBA agreement. The players find themselves in an interesting position this time around. The issues to be discussed will be fewer between owners and players and more between owners.

A lot of the small market owners, and Hal Steinbrenner, have seen what the Dodgers have done over the past few offseasons as destructive to the game of baseball. Teams like the Reds and Brewers do not have the financial wherewithal to compete with the mighty Dodgers or the wealthy Mets. 

“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things they’re doing," Steinbrenner said last February. "We’ll see if it pays off. They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them.”

The owners want a salary cap, and some want floors. The MLBPA is not in the postion to settle for a salary cap. While it benefits owners in a competitive balance model, the players' association knows that a salary cap will also reduce players' overall salaries, as they will likely lose leverage in negotiations. If the Dodgers or Yankees are out of cap space, the agents can't use them as negotiating tools to use against other teams, like superagent Scott Boras did this past offseason with the Alex Bregman negotiations.

Who will take Clark's place?

The MLBPA will meet today on a conference call to discuss both the short-term and long-term options to replace Clark. “We’re not going to get a search going." Brent Suter, an MLBPA Union Subcommittee member, said Tuesday. "Bargaining here. We’re going to have an interim & keep everything as stable as we can this year.” The leading candidate to replace Clark is Suter himself at the moment. They need to choose someone with a strong influence over the players in negotiations. In the past, Suter has been the key to negotiations, but not yet the leading man. 

A formal announcement is expected at the conclusion of today's MLBPA meeting, when an interim will be named.