MLB commissioner Rob Manfred isn't holding any grudges toward new Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen

ATLANTA -- A year ago, Brodie Van Wagenen, then an agent for CAA, suggested a player boycott of spring training to combat what he viewed as collusion by MLB owners in keeping free-agent salaries stagnant.

Van Wagenen basically took a flamethrower to the sport’s entire landscape with his explosive statement, which referred to the players as “alpha males” ready for a “brewing fight” with the 30 owners.

Now that Van Wagenen has changed sides and become the Mets' general manager, commissioner Rob Manfred was asked Thursday how he felt about the agent’s defection.

Threatening a work stoppage, even if it’s only by one agent gone rogue, is not something that’s taken lightly by a commissioner. But nearly 10 months later, with Van Wagenen installed in Flushing, Manfred is all about moving forward from the episode.

When the question was first posed to Manfred, his reaction was, “Do you think I can get away with amnesia for that?” After laughter, the commissioner showed he isn't holding a grudge, even as MLB’s former chief negotiator in labor issues.

“When you come up the side of the business that I came up, where conflict is something that happens periodically, episodically, in those moments, people say things,” Manfred said Thursday at the conclusion of the owners' meetings. “Certainly, I bet if you look back, you can find one or two intemperate Rob Manfred comments along the way.

“Brodie called me right after he accepted the job and we had a really good conversation. I think that he understands the concerns that a comment like that raises amongst our group, but I have every confidence that he’s going to conduct himself in a way that will make him a really productive member of the baseball family.”

Manfred said he discussed those inflammatory comments directly with Van Wagenen. As for what the Mets thought of Van Wagenen after he made the comments,  they  probably had the least issue with him, considering they already had given one of his clients, Yoenis Cespedes, the highest annual salary for an outfielder the previous year. They also signed two more of his clients, Todd Frazier and Jason Vargas, shortly after his anti-owner manifesto.

In looking ahead to this offseason, the owners are going to be facing extra scrutiny after the glacial pace of last winter’s free agency. And with Thursday’s announcement that MLB has  completed a new seven-year broadcast deal with Fox Sports -- worth $5.1 billion, according to Sports Business Journal -- teams certainly appear flush with cash for the years ahead.

Manfred also received a five-year contract extension four years after being named Bud Selig’s successor by virtue of a somewhat contentious vote among owners in Baltimore. Manfred joked about those anxious days but acknowledged the challenges ahead.

Near the top of his agenda is negotiating rule changes with the Players Association, including the 20-second pitch clock.

“We have not withdrawn our proposal on the pitch clock,” Manfred said. “We have the right to adopt that rule on our own, if that’s what we elect to do. We’d like to get to a meeting of the minds with them about what we’re trying to accomplish with respect to the play of the game on the field, against the backdrop and fundamental realization that we believe we have the greatest game in the world. We are talking about small changes around the edges, because we value and have a real belief in the quality of the product that we put out there every day.”

On a more aesthetic scale, Manfred announced an amendment to the CBA that will ease restrictions on a player’s footwear, giving them more design flexibility. This seems to be a growing trend in all sports, pioneered long ago by the NBA, and has taken off recently in baseball with the annual Players Weekend events.

“We view footwear as an important part of the marketing of the game,” Manfred said. “We also believe it’s a vehicle that allows players to express their individuality. It’s also a source of great interest among young fans.”

Nurturing that interest among the next generation is one of Manfred’s biggest priorities, and based on falling attendance figures from the past season, it’s a very real problem. Total attendance was down slightly more than 3 million from 2017 for an average of 1,237 fans per game, according to Baseball Reference. Maybe the revenue streams provided by broadcast outfits continue to be robust, but filling seats remains an issue.

“I’m not sure that concern is really the word that I would use to characterize the conversation,” Manfred said. “I think the owners as a group are realistic about how the business performed. The focus of the conversation, however, was trying to make sure that we do everything to get as many fans in the ballpark in 2019 as we possibly can, and we believe we have some good ideas that we’ll be rolling out in the next few months.”

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.