Commissioner Rob Manfred says MLB needs the anti-trust exemption to keep minor league teams from moving. As I’m reading the article, it’s making the case for universal free agency:

The uniform player contract signed by every minor leaguer states that teams control the rights of players for up to seven years in the minor leagues and seven years in the major leagues. Due to the antitrust exemption, if a minor leaguer decides to stop playing the sport before the seven years elapse in the minors or the majors, the team owns the rights to the player and he cannot play the sport professionally elsewhere unless he is released from his contract.

As a result of the antitrust exemption, baseball players who sign the uniform player contract cannot seek better pay elsewhere. 

ESPN.com

This problem disappears with free agency at every step of the way. If a player isn’t good enough to continue, he is unlikely to be signed, a sure indication that it’s time to find something else to do. We see this now with older major league players, as many clubs in MLB no longer value them highly.

The same goes for the minor league clubs:

Additionally, Manfred said that without the antitrust exemption, it was “more likely” that minor league affiliates would leave their current communities.

“Without coordinated oversight and decision-making by MLB, it is likely that more Minor League affiliates will leave their existing communities for a superior player-development environment, and that fewer — rather than more — Minor League clubs affiliated with MLB clubs will exist in the future,” Manfred wrote.

Shouldn’t we want superior player development environments? Might that be a competitive minor league, where owners actually try to win games?

Free the players, free the minors, freedom for everyone!