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Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark received more than $4.25 million in compensation in 2023, with a $3.25 million salary and $1 million bonus, nearly doubling his total the previous year, according to a union financial report released Monday.

The revelation of Clark’s salary, which was $2.25 million in 2022, comes in the wake of an uprising at the union in which attorney Harry Marino attempted to garner support from players to replace the union’s deputy executive director, Bruce Meyer.

While Marino could not rally the necessary backing to oust Meyer, his efforts calling for an internal audit on union finances gained significant traction among player leadership, sources told ESPN.

Clark’s salary is in the range of his contemporaries who have run major sports unions. Former NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith made $4.5 million in 2021 and $2.72 million in 2022. Former NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio received $3.1 million in her final year on the job. And NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh has a reported salary of $3 million after his predecessor, Donald Fehr, reportedly made $3.5 million per year.

In his first full year as executive director of the union in 2014, Clark received a salary of $1,993,525, according to the MLBPA’s LM-2, an annual filing that details union spending. The salary was nearly double that of his predecessor, Michael Weiner, who died of cancer in November 2013. Weiner and Fehr, the previous union executive director, capped their salaries at $1 million going back to the 1990s. Clark is expected to receive slight increases in his annual salary for the remainder of his contract, which runs through 2027.

The union’s revenues have grown significantly since Clark’s appointment. In 2014, the MLBPA’s total receipts were $64.7 million, according to the LM-2. Last year, the number was $191.8 million. The largest payments from 2023 include $49.6 million from Topps, $44 million from Fanatics, $28.6 million from the group licensing firm OneTeam Partners and $10.2 million from trading-card manufacturer Panini.

MLBPA spending on employee salaries has increased in recent years, according to the LM-2. In 2021, employees received $11.9 million, in 2022 it jumped to $15.4 million, and last year it was $16.6 million.

Marino, who helped organize minor league players and eventually integrate them into the MLBPA, worked for the union for less than a year before leaving amid clashes with top union officials. In a one-page letter he distributed to players advocating for the need of new leadership at the MLBPA, Marino said he would “trim the waste and excess” of the union’s spending, writing, “Our job is to make you rich, not the other way around.”

On a call two weeks ago that included members of the MLBPA’s 68-player executive board, players went back and forth on a number of subjects, including Meyer’s fitness for the job and the lack of communication from union officials. During discussions about the current leadership’s fitness for the job, sources said, multiple player leaders said they were unaware that the union had given Clark a five-year contract extension in November 2022.

Clark’s deal followed a 99-day lockout by MLB of the players who bridged most of the 2021-22 offseason. A bountiful winter, in which players received $3.9 billion in guaranteed money, followed the first year of the new deal, but free agent spending lagged in some areas this offseason, prompting player leaders to question Clark and Meyer’s stewardship.

The contretemps died down about a week after Marino told Clark he had significant player support to be installed as the new deputy executive director. While the full body of minor leaguers continued to back him, major league player support waned, and the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee — made up of eight elected players — eventually disavowed the efforts after members of the group initially backed Marino.

Still, multiple player representatives told ESPN they intend to call for an audit of the union’s finances, with the hope for it to start in the near future.

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D-backs’ DeSclafani to IL after turn as starter

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D-backs' DeSclafani to IL after turn as starter

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Arizona Diamondbacks placed right-hander Anthony DeSclafani on the 15-day injured list Wednesday because of right thumb inflammation after he made three starts.

DeSclafani (1-2, 4.36 ERA) has been primarily a reliever for the Diamondbacks but made the starts this month after Merrill Kelly was traded to the Texas Rangers at the deadline on July 31.

Arizona made the move with DeSclafani before the series finale at Texas, when Kelly was starting for the Rangers. The Diamondbacks recalled right-hander Casey Kelly from Triple-A Reno.

“We’re hoping for the minimal time. He’s going to get some imaging just to make sure that everything’s OK,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “This is something that popped up a couple days ago. We all felt that he was going to be able to take the baseball and go out there and compete, which he did. We saw the stuff in the first couple of innings, and we decided it was time to take him off the field.”

In the three starts this month, DeSclafani is 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA, allowing six runs in 9⅔ innings. He threw three innings Tuesday night, allowing two runs in a game Arizona won 3-2 on a homer by Ketel Marte in the ninth.

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Twins no longer for sale; owners eye investors

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Twins no longer for sale; owners eye investors

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins are no longer for sale, executive chair Joe Pohlad announced Wednesday on behalf of his family.

After exploring a variety of options over the past 10 months, the Pohlad family will remain the principal owner of the club and add new investors instead. Carl Pohlad, a banking magnate and the late grandfather of Joe Pohlad, purchased the Twins in 1984 for $44 million.

“For more than four decades, our family has had the privilege of owning the Minnesota Twins. This franchise has become part of our family story, as it has for our employees, our players, this community, and Twins fans everywhere,” Joe Pohlad said in his announcement. “Over the past several months, we explored a wide range of potential investment and ownership opportunities. Our focus throughout has been on what’s best for the long-term future of the Twins. We have been fully open to all possibilities.”

Pohlad said the family was in the process of adding two “significant” limited partnership groups to bring in fresh ideas, bolster critical partnerships and shape the long-term vision of the franchise that relocated to Minnesota in 1961 after originating as the Washington Senators. Details about the new investors will be kept private until Major League Baseball approves of the transactions, Pohlad said.

The Twins are on track for their lowest attendance total in 16 seasons at Target Field, and an ownership-mandated payroll reduction last year, among other factors, has contributed to a dissatisfied customer base. The Twins traded 10 players off their roster leading up to the July 31 deadline, furthering the frustration. Word that the Pohlads are staying put certainly won’t help the morale of Minnesota baseball fans, who’ve been waiting for another World Series title since 1991.

“We see and hear the passion from our partners, the community, and Twins fans. That passion inspires us,” Pohlad said. “This ownership group is committed to building a winning team and culture for this region, one that Twins fans are proud to cheer for.”

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Cards’ Contreras out with foot contusion after HBP

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Cards' Contreras out with foot contusion after HBP

ST. LOUIS — Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras was not in the lineup Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies a day after he was hit in the foot by a pitch and broke his bat in frustration.

Contreras, listed as day-to-day with a right foot contusion, was hit by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland‘s sweeper in the fourth inning. He then slammed his bat into the dirt and snapped it over his knee.

As he walked toward first base, the 33-year-old threw the two pieces of the broken bat toward the Cardinals’ dugout.

He remained in the game until the sixth inning, when he was replaced by Nolan Gorman.

The Cardinals said X-rays did not reveal any structural damage in Contreras’ foot.

Contreras has been hit by a National League-leading 18 pitches this season, trailing only Randy Arozarena and Ty France.

Contreras leads the Cardinals with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs.

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