"The 2026 baseball season is either a week old or still weeks away, depending upon whether you count its beginning from the first grainy and distant social media photos of pitchers stretching on back fields or the first games that count. Either way, the positional jockeying for a potential 2027 owner lockout has already begun, because how else would the league follow its most entertaining World Series of the century? You can only cruise on the comedy stylings of Nick Castellanos for so long, right?"
"And Clark's pending resignation, while surely news in a way all that isn't, has not yet been fully explained. It may well have connections to the apparently disastrous eight-figure investment the union made in a for-profit youth baseball company and a federal investigation in the Eastern District of New York into Clark specifically for self-dealing, misuse of resources, and abuse of power at the union. It certainly is abrupt; Clark's scheduled meeting with the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday was canceled at the last minute."
The 2026 baseball season's start is ambiguous, marked by back-field photos and early games rather than a single kickoff. Teams are already jockeying for position ahead of a possible 2027 owner lockout, and pre-lockout sniping has surfaced in coded criticism and ownership chants. Camp news has been largely trivial and focused on minor stories. Tony Clark's abrupt pending resignation follows reports of an eight-figure union investment in a for-profit youth baseball company and a federal Eastern District of New York investigation into alleged self-dealing, misuse of resources, and abuse of power. The timing implies the union may seek different leadership to confront owners' salary cap demands.
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