FILE - Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference in New York on March 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

TAMPA, Fla. — Tony Clark resigned as head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a person familiar with the union’s deliberations said Tuesday.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because his decision had not yet been announced. The union planned to make the announcement later Tuesday.

Clark’s decision took place during an investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, New York, into OneTeam Partners, a licensing company founded by the union, the NFL Players Association and RedBird Capital Partners in 2019.

“A lot of people have known that the investigation has been going on,” said the New York Mets’ Marcus Semien, a member of the union’s eight-man executive subcommittee. “I think that this happening during the investigation is not like, as a subcommittee, is not like overly surprising, but it still hurts and it’s still something I’m processing.”

The union’s executive board met Tuesday and did not make any decisions about a successor, the person said. The executive board planned to meet again Wednesday to consider its next steps.

Deputy executive director Bruce Meyer is set to be the primary negotiator in the upcoming labor talks, as he was in 2021-22. After Clark and Rick Shapiro led the 2016 negotiations, Meyer was hired in August 2018 as senior director of collective bargaining and legal and was promoted to his current role in July 2022.

Semien believes Clark is leaving to deal with the probe.

“I think so,” he said, “because up to this point, before any investigations, I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Tony Clark to lead this player group. I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group.”

The decision was made ahead of an expected start of collective bargaining in April for an agreement to replace the five-year labor contract that expires Dec. 1.

Management appears on track to propose a salary cap for 2027, which possibly could lead to a work stoppage that causes regular-season games to be canceled for the first time since 1995.

Elsewhere in MLB:

n Right-hander Walker Buehler has signed with the San Diego Padres after spending the first eight seasons of his career with the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers. Buehler was in the Padres’ clubhouse Tuesday morning after agreeing to a minor-league deal with an invitation to the big league camp. Buehler spent last season with Boston and Philadelphia, which signed him in late August after the Red Sox released him. Buehler earned two All-Star selections and two World Series rings during his 10 years in the Dodgers organization, serving as a mainstay in their rotation whenever healthy from 2017 to 2024.

n Minnesota Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez has a “significant tear” in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow that is expected to require season-ending surgery. Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll told reporters Tuesday that Lopez will seek a second opinion but likely is headed for a Tommy John procedure. He ended a bullpen session early on Monday after experiencing soreness. He was the team’s opening day starter in each of the last three seasons and scheduled to pitch for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic next month. Lopez is signed through next year.