Major-league players are likely to set a strike date Monday, but the outlook for keeping them on the diamond has brightened in recent days.
With negotiators agreeing to remain at the bargaining table through the weekend in New York, there’s a slight chance they may resolve their differences without a full-scale confrontation.
According to highly placed management sources, the Major League Baseball Players Association has expressed a willingness to include a tax on the highest payrolls in a new deal. According to one of the sources, however, the sides are “in different zip codes” as to the extent of the tax.
Ownership has proposed a 50 percent tax on all payrolls above $98 million. The union apparently has discussed only a much higher threshold. But it is significant that they are talking about the concept of a tax, which union leader Don Fehr previously dismissed as un-American, calling it “a penalty for hiring someone.”
After a full day of meetings Friday, Major League Baseball Executive Vice President Rob Manfred described himself as “cautiously optimistic about our ability to reach an agreement in the near future.” There was, however, no such proclamation from the union.
Fehr did say expectations of the players setting a strike date Monday were premature.
“It depends on what happens over the weekend,” he said. “We will go through the options with the players, and the players will decide what they need to do.”
The union has not made a formal proposal including a luxury tax. If it does make one this weekend, no matter how high it sets the threshold, the sides would at least have established the framework for compromise on all three of the core issues: increased revenue sharing, a luxury tax and a worldwide draft.
The possibility of a breakthrough is expected to keep Fehr and Manfred’s negotiating team in meetings through Sunday. Both sides appear to view Monday’s meeting of players representatives in Chicago as a crossroad in the negotiations.
Quoting union sources, the New York Times and the Associated Press reported that players will set a strike date, most likely for late August or early September, if no agreement is reached by Monday.
“I hope they don’t,” Commissioner Bud Selig said. “If they do, they do. I do think we’re making progress. I don’t think it helps to [set a strike date].”
While the pace of talks seems to increase almost daily, a management source calls Monday “an artificial deadline.” If the union does set a deadline, which it has been more reluctant to do than was the case in 1994, it will not necessarily signal a break in negotiations, according to Manfred.
“I’ve come here every day for the last 30 days with only one thing on my mind–that’s reaching an agreement,” Manfred said. “If they set a strike date on Monday, you can take it to the bank that I’ll be here at 7:30 Tuesday morning with only one thing on my mind–to reach an agreement. It will be the same thing the next day, the day after and the day after that.”
In addition to economic issues, the sides continue to work toward an agreement on random testing for steroids. The owners made a counteroffer Friday to the proposal Fehr delivered Wednesday.
The union, which had historically opposed all random testing, proposed to put testing in place for only two seasons, which it hopes would be enough to show that the scope of the problem is minor. All players would be given “one or more” unannounced tests in 2003 and 2004. If either round of testing found more than 5 percent of players in violation, a program of random testing would be instituted for two years.
Also players may be tested for use of illegal steroids after showing reasonable cause, with the program to be administered by a four-person committee composed of two MLBPA and two MLB representatives, including doctors who are experts on substance-abuse issues.
Owners, who originally proposed that players be tested three times a year for performance-enhancing drugs and once a year for illegal drugs such as cocaine and marijuana, agreed with the structure of the union’s proposal. But Manfred said there are differences with the union over whether some nutritional supplements, such as androstenedione, and recreational drugs would be covered, as well as the discipline elements to the deal.
Androstenedione is considered a steroid hormone that is the precursor to testosterone. It is sold as an over-the-counter supplement with the promise to increase muscle size and strength.
Mark McGwire acknowledged using androstenedione in 1998, when he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home-run record. The union would protect McGwire’s legacy by keeping it from being among the list of banned substances.
