Manfred is such an idiot and I'm surprised the owners let him do it. From a pure business perspective, letting the activist players split the player's union on a hill that most players won't die on would have been good for the owners heading into the CBA. In fact, if some high profile players sat out, that would have benefited the owners by tanking public approval of the players.
From a baseball fan perspective, he dunked the MLB straight into politics and committed the MLB to more politicization in the future. What Manfred does not understand is that it does not stop here. He does not understand that he has implicitly suggested that the MLB has a moral responsibility to disengage from any institution that our cultural elites label as unjust. The applause of the cultural elites will only continue so far as MLB ratifies whatever narrative they want to advance. The moment Manfred has to oppose their wishes on something that affects MLB's bottom line, it will be as if he has never done anything to gratify them. They will not care.