Both sides continue to talk as strike date looms
— -- NEW YORK -- With little time left to avert a baseballstrike, negotiators resumed talks Thursday as players, owners andfans around the nation awaited word on whether the season wouldcome to a stop.
Wed., Aug. 28
This World Series of Labor is definitely headed into the bottom of the ninth.
Read Jason Stark's analysis from Wednesday's meetings.
After five bargaining sessions Wednesday, the sides remainedapart on levels for a luxury tax and revenue sharing, leaving thesport on track for its ninth work stoppage since 1972.
Many players expressed hope for a deal before Friday's scheduledwalkout, but negotiators were still struggling for a breakthrough.
"The same issues are unresolved," commissioner Bud Selig saidlate Wednesday night. "It's been very constructive. Both sides arereaching out, but I can't tell you we're any closer. Only time willtell."
After recessing talks just past midnight, union lawyers walkedthree blocks through heavy rain just 10 hours later, returning tothe commissioner's office for a 90-minute meeting that endedshortly after 11 a.m. ET.
President Bush's spokesman said the White House was not gettinginvolved in the dispute.
"This is something the players and owners need to resolve,"White House deputy press secretary Scott McClellan said aboard AirForce One.
Selig, who presided over the 1994-95 strike that led to thefirst cancellation of the World Series in 90 years, did notparticipate in the negotiating sessions, which mostly were brief.
"The length of the meeting doesn't always indicate whether itwas a good meeting or not," said union lawyer Steve Fehr, thebrother of union head Donald Fehr.
Selig appeared briefly at the fourth meeting, only to say hello,union lawyer Michael Weiner said.
Scheduling matters
A couple of issues to consider as the negotiations continue:
1. Will teams be ready to play Friday?ESPN.com's Jayson Stark reports that all teams will be prepared to play on Friday, even if a settlement is reached late Thursday night. The three teams that have the longest distances to travel for road games beginning Friday will travel on Thursday: the Twins play in Minnesota on Thursday and head to Oakland, the Royals have an off day in Kansas City before going to Seattle and the Cardinals travel from Cincinnati on Thursday for a Friday day game in Chicago.
2. How will the schedule be handled if there is a short strike?Two days of games were lost in the 1985 strike and all games were made up later with doubleheaders. A similar scenario could occur this year. If Friday games are cancelled, doubleheaders could be played Saturday or Sunday to keep the 162-game schedule intact. If the strike is prolonged, matters are complicated. Jayson Stark reports that the situation would likely be handled similar to Sept. 11th last season, when commissioner Selig decided matters on a day-to-day basis, and a week worth's of games that were postponed were made up with the postseason pushed back a week.--ESPN.com
"I still think we're going to get something done," saidAtlanta pitcher Tom Glavine, the NL player representative. "I justthink we're all too close on too much of this to let it fallapart."
Owners want to slow spending by high-payroll teams with a luxurytax and in their last formal proposal wanted to increase the amountof locally generated revenue that teams share from 20 percent to 36percent. Players were at 33.3 percent and want to phase in theincrease.
While negotiators didn't disclose details, management increasedits proposed threshold for the luxury tax by $5 million to $112million and the union dropped by $5 million to $120 million, Bostonplayer representative Johnny Damon said. The sides were stilldiscussing all the proposed rates and thresholds, and the uniondidn't want a tax in the final year.
The sides also discussed contract language that dealt with theowners' desire to fold two franchises, one general manager said oncondition of anonymity. The union opposes contraction.
Atlanta, Boston, the White Sox, Colorado and Milwaukee pushedback their charters from Thursday to Friday to see what happens atthe talks. The first game affected would be at Chicago's WrigleyField, where the Cubs are to play the Cardinals at 3:20 p.m. ETFriday.
"Things generally go to the last second," Selig said, "butyou do get into dangerous ground when you don't have a deal donelate in the day, late at night."
Since the union set the strike date Aug. 16, fans have expressedanger. A sign in the right-field bleachers at Chicago's ComiskeyPark on Wednesday read: "On Strike/Who Cares/Go Bears."
"We see the signs, and you hear comments from time to timeabout strike-related stuff. Sometimes those things are harsh," theBrewers' Mark Loretta said. "It's so hard to try to explain topeople what the issues are when you're talking about those kinds ofdollars and this kind of industry, and the fans are in the middleof it."
Just in case there is a strike, some Cleveland players gave theclubhouse attendants their season-ending tips Wednesday, and TimWakefield and Ugueth Urbina of Boston packed their belongings intoboxes after a 7-0 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. TheWhite Sox, also off Thursday, might have ended their season withWednesday's 8-0 win over Toronto.
"We're packing our bags for Detroit. It doesn't feel like thelast game," Chicago's Paul Konerko said. "Even if there is astrike, it will probably only last a couple of days."
Oakland's Barry Zito, his team fighting for a playoff berth,wanted to know what would happen to the schedule if there was abrief stoppage, such as the two-day August strike in 1985. He saidunion officials told him any missed games would be made up if astrike is short.
"It could be a situation where we could play into October againin the regular season," said Zito, referring to last year, whenthe season was extended a week because of the Sept. 11 terroristattacks.
In Cleveland, Travis Fryman said he will retire after theseason, but "I am hoping this isn't the last moment of mine inbaseball."
Detroit pitcher Jose Lima said fans blamed the players.
"I told one guy who was yelling at me out by the bullpen, 'Hey,man, nobody wants to go on strike,"' Lima said. "Another guy wasyelling, 'You greedy so-and-sos.' The fans don't understandeverything. What I am worried about is some guy doing somethingstupid to a player in all of this."
On Tuesday, players said the sides agreed to a drug-testingplan. Los Angeles player representative Paul Lo Duca, who revealedthe agreement, was scolded by players on the conference call formisstating it. Lo Duca said the deal covered mandatory randomtesting for steroids, marijuana and cocaine, but other playerscorrected him Wednesday.
"Cocaine and marijuana -- we're not testing for that. Juststeroids," St. Louis player representative Steve Kline said.