Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred met with the Orioles on Wednesday afternoon at Camden Yards and held an open-floor discussion that included talk of a ball-strike challenge system but avoided a salary cap debate, multiple Baltimore players said.

The meeting in Baltimore, part of Manfred’s annual visits to each clubhouse, was tame compared to one that occurred north on Interstate 95 last month, when Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper stood nose to nose with Manfred and told him to “get the f--- out of our clubhouse” if Manfred wanted to talk about the potential implementation of a salary cap, according to ESPN.

Multiple players said there was no such dispute in Baltimore. Manfred stayed away from that explicit topic.

The potential implementation of a salary cap (or salary floor) for teams is at the center of the expected struggle between the MLB Players Association and MLB once the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season. A lockout is possible, beginning in December 2026.

The players association has been outspoken in its aversion to any sort of salary cap. During a press conference with members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ahead of the All-Star Game last month in Atlanta, union President Tony Clark called a salary cap “institutionalized collusion.”

“A salary cap, historically, has limited contract guarantees associated,” Clark said, adding that it pits one player against another.

“A cap is not about any partnership,” Clark said. “A cap is not about growing the game. That’s not what a cap is about. As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That’s what a cap is about.”

The idea of a salary cap is generally pushed by owners, such as Baltimore’s David Rubenstein.

In July, during an appearance at the National Press Club in D.C., Rubenstein said “there’s a general consensus in the country — but I can’t really speak for the whole country — that we need more equilibrium,” Rubenstein said. “We want every team to feel, when they begin the season, they have a chance, no matter whether you’re in a small city or a big city, to win a World Series.”

Clark argued that a salary cap “doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance.”

In another press conference with members of the BBWAA ahead of the All-Star Game, Manfred emphasized that he “never use[s] the word ‘salary’ within one of ‘cap’” when meeting with players.

“My only goal there is to not convince them of one system or another,” Manfred said, “but to convince them that everybody going to the table with an open mind to try to address a problem that’s fan-driven leads to a better collective bargaining process and a better outcome.”

Orioles players said Manfred stuck to that approach in a question-and-answer setting. Many of the longest-tenured players, such as Charlie Morton and Cedric Mullins, were traded away ahead of the deadline.

Right-hander Dean Kremer, an MLBPA player representative, said Manfred sought opinions on how the strike-zone challenge system operated during spring training. The Orioles weren’t able to help much in that territory; Ed Smith Stadium, Baltimore’s spring training home in Sarasota, Florida, didn’t have challenge system capabilities.

Left-hander Dietrich Enns, a recent acquisition from Detroit ahead of the trade deadline, had more perspective to share. He experienced the challenge system in spring training for the Tigers and saw a fully automatic strike zone while playing in Korea.

“From the owners’ perspective, they would have it already, but it’s got to go through the CBA and all that stuff,” Enns recalled Manfred saying of the challenge system. “There’s pros and cons to both, I would say. I used it in Korea, and it was full ABS there. There were kinks in it. It was inconsistent and stuff like that. But, if you can get over the growing pains of it, it worked.”

Second baseman Jackson Holliday said Manfred’s conversation with the Orioles covered various topics, such as the pitch clock and “certain money revenue stuff that I don’t really quite understand too much about.”

Enns added that some players asked “about revenue for the owners and salaries for the players.”

The future of broadcasting games is central to the growth of the league, and Manfred said on CNBC last month that regional blackouts “have to end.” Currently, the broadcast market is fragmented by regional sports networks, compared to national packages for the NFL. The long-term health of those networks, including Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, is in question.

“It was interesting to hear how he thinks he can make the game better as far as TV and stuff like that,” Holliday said. “That was kind of the main gist. I know some of the guys are a little upset about 12 o’clock games and stuff like that, but that’s probably small stuff, certain stuff that will probably be dealt with in the next few years. It was interesting.”

Holliday added: “I would say I don’t think he’s doing anything to harm the game. I think he wants the best for the game, so I can appreciate that.”

But, when the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season, Holliday and Kremer were clear that the players will have a united front when it comes to discussions with the league.

“From what we have gathered from the PA and what MLB has said, I think the gap is fairly big right now, but I don’t get to be in those talks,” Kremer said. “I don’t get to hear everything. I think they’re actively working toward coming together, and I think the best thing for us is to be united on whatever front we decide to be united on as players.”