Rob Manfred should probably just quit speaking publicly at this point

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred did an interview his week, and someone should tell him to stop speaking publicly.

As team preparations for the 60-game 2020 MLB season started this weekend, commissioner Rob Manfred was sure to be a man in some demand. He appeared on The Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday, to discuss the failed negotiations with the MLBPA.

“The reality is,” Manfred said, “we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went.”

As other leagues formed plans to return to play, the back-and-forth over prorated player salaries led to MLB languishing in the quagmire of the economics. The coronavirus pandemic is the overriding factor with everything right now, and recent case spikes in the states MLB does spring training business (Florida and Arizona) aren’t helpful.

Manfred attempted to walk back his “we weren’t going to play more than 60 games regardless”comment on Thursday. Here’s what he said to USA Today.

“We just weren’t going to be able to play more than 60 games at that point,” he added. “With everything being shut down. The reality is that we’re going to be lucky if we get 60 games now given the course of the virus.”

Even rooted in the harsh reality of the coronavirus and with a grain of truth, Manfred suggesting that getting through 60 games will require luck is another slip of speech on his part. He pivoted from saying he was 100 percent certain there’d be a season to not having confidence in less than a week last month, with another move of the financial goalpost on the players in between.

The media wants to talk to Manfred, and for that they collectively can’t be blamed. But even as other commissioners speak of possible worst-case scenarios in their leagues spurred by COVID-19, Manfred comes off worse than the rest.

It’s not going to and it can’t happen. But Manfred should stop speaking to the media until at least Opening Day as it’s currently scheduled three weeks from now. Not that he could make the perception of him any worse by doing so.