BOSTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The winter meetings are coming to an end and so is the short-lived goodwill between Major League Baseball and the Players Association.
Major League Baseball president Paul Beeston issued a statement Thursday acknowledging that negotiations for the settlement of the contraction grievance that were taking place in New York have broken off.
Players Association executive director Donald Fehr responded by scolding baseball executives for going public with the tone and topic of the discussions. The issue is headed for arbitration.
Although the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos have emerged as the likely candidates for contraction, the prevailing belief is that litigation and logistics would prevent it from happening before baseball's target date of next season.
At the heart of the latest disagreement between baseball's labor and management is interpretation. The league feels it has the right to unilaterally contract, while the union believes the act has to be negotiated.
The sides appeared close to hammering out an agreement Monday, with the owners putting off the elimination of two teams until 2003 at the earliest and the union agreeing to the assumption that baseball could contract without consultation with labor.
But as the meetings in Boston ended Thursday, so did hopes that this would not be an offseason filled with contention between the sides.
"We regret that the negotiations for a settlement of the contraction grievance have broken down over the Players Association's refusal to acknowledge Major League Baseball's basic right to contract," Beeston said in a statement.
Fehr said talks broke down because baseball owners introduced two new demands--its desire to potentially switch the clubs to be disbanded if contraction could not take place by 2003 and that certain parts of the settlement remain secret.
He added that after Wednesday night's talks broke off, lawyers for baseball asked the union to refrain from telling the media.
"We honored this request, only to find that the clubs have today gone public in a way that is not only inappropriate but inaccurate," Fehr said.
Beeston's statement was made public at approximately 1:30 p.m. EST. According to Fehr, at about the same time, Rob Manfred, baseball's labor counsel and a member of the arbitration panel hearing the grievance, publicly characterized the negotiations.
"All of this is regrettable," Fehr said. "It is plainly inappropriate for a party to comment publicly on the substance of settlement negotiations in an ongoing dispute--and even more so by a member of the very arbitration panel charged to decide that dispute."
The union's grievance heads back to arbitration. Baseball was adamant that it will forge ahead with the removal of two teams.
"We will continue with our plans to contract two clubs for the 2002 season and resume negotiations with the Players Association on the effects of contraction," Beeston concluded.
Pittsburgh Pirates first-year general manager Dave Littlefield admitted that with Florida, Minnesota, Montreal and other potential contraction candidates unsure of what may happen, talks--let alone deals--are difficult to complete.
"You have to spend more time worrying about your own situation, what can affect you," he said. "The key is to be flexible. Things are just status quo (between the league and the union) and in our job you just have to be prepared for anything. Whatever is presented to you, you just have to work with."
The issue of contraction affects all teams on some level. With just two months until spring training, many believe there is not enough time to coordinate player allocation, schedules, ticket sales and potential realignment.
The union filed the grievance to prevent baseball's efforts to contract for the upcoming season. Fehr said the union would allow contraction to take place for the 2003 season if baseball agreed on a timetable and followed procedure consistent with the collective bargaining agreement.
However, the agreement expired after the 2001 season. At some point, a new agreement has to be collectively bargained, but the union has floated the notion of rolling over the existing deal one year while the particulars of contraction are worked out in time for the 2003 season.
