Players union chief Donald Fehr held a 90-minute meeting with White Sox players Saturday to update them on the labor negotiations.
Fehr expects talks on a new collective bargaining agreement to begin by the end of next week now that the contraction issue is dead for 2002.
Owners are pushing for an increase in revenue sharing from 20 to 50 percent, along with a 50 percent tax on payrolls above $98 million, arguing the measures are necessary to improve competitive balance.
“In 1990 there were proposals for a salary cap,” Fehr said. “[Owners argued that] we had to have it or teams are going to go under, will be terrible and never win. Who were the four worst teams in 1990 in terms of performance, financially and on the field? Cleveland, Seattle, San Francisco and Atlanta. They are now routinely four of the top seven. Well, how did that happen?”
Fehr said baseball is constantly in a state of flux, and a struggling franchise can turn it around with solid management.
“You have to try to judge whether clubs are getting everything out of what [resources] they have,” Fehr said. “How much reflects economic conditions of the market, and how much reflects management decisions in how to run the team? Why is that important? Because what you do about it may change. Some markets don’t have as much revenue as others. You also have a lot of very large markets that don’t win consistently, and some don’t win very often.”
A luxury tax on payroll was part of the ’96 labor agreement but was phased out in 2000 and ’01. Owners are considering calling it a “competitive-balance” tax, though Fehr said “you could call it a giraffe” and it’s still a restraint on salaries.
“It’s a very odd thing to ask a union,” he said. “If someone wants to pay your members more than so much money, and you want to penalize them for that? That’s a strange thing for an organization to do.”
Phils sign Rollins: Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, 23, an All-Star and the National League stolen-base champion as a rookie in 2001, agreed to a one-year, $365,000 contract. He will earn a $10,000 bonus if he is an All-Star again. He hit .274 with 14 homers and 54 RBIs last season, and stole 46 bases in 54 attempts.
Wells looks well: Yankees pitcher David Wells had another strong bullpen session and could be ready to pitch in early spring training games. Wells is coming off back surgery last July and was not originally expected to resume throwing until late this month. The left-hander has already thrown off a bullpen mound three times and had one batting-practice session.
Wells is now on target to make his spring debut during the first week of games.
Indians, Sabathia agree: Cleveland signed left-hander C.C. Sabathia to a $9.5 million, four-year contract, which contains a club option for a fifth year. It could be worth up to $19.75 million over five years.
Sabathia went 17-5 with a 4.39 ERA in 33 starts last season.
Gaston returns to Jays: Former Toronto manager Cito Gaston accepted a job with the team as a special assistant to team President and CEO Paul Godfrey.
