Is there any way the Mets could try to void Beltrans contract?
The Mets could refer to Section 7(b)(1) of the standard player contract, which empowers a team to terminate a contract if the player “fails, refuses or neglects to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey the club’s training rules.” While vague, the language has not been used by teams to void contracts of players who have surgery without clear approval from their teams. The Beltran situation, with all of its ambiguity, probably is not going to be the test case. Section 7(b)(3) similarly empowers teams to terminate a contract if a player “fails, refuses or neglect to render his services hereunder or in any manner materially breach this contract.” Though it sounds sweeping, it likely won’t help out the Mets. Michael McCann is a law professor at Vermont Law School and the distinguished visiting Hall of Fame Professor of Law at Mississippi College School of Law. In the spring of
