When Commissioner Bud Selig arrived at baseball's office on Park Avenue in Manhattan late yesterday afternoon, a fan was waiting outside the building. ÿGet the deal done,ÿ the fan said emphatically. ÿYou're making me miserable.ÿþþThe negotiators for the owners and the players wanted a done deal, but despite their feverish efforts to accomplish their goal and avert a strike that is scheduled to begin after tonight's games, they seemed to be failing.þþA person familiar with the talks said late last night that there was no reason for optimism. ÿSubstantial differences remain in the area of the luxury tax,ÿ the person said.þþNegotiators had one session during the day and four brief meetings in the evening. At the fourth evening session, the two sides learned that their attempt at progress was falling short. The brevity of the earlier sessions was not a bad omen. ÿThe meetings are not unexpectedly brief,ÿ a negotiator said.þþHe meant that in exploring ways to solve the differences, the negotiators were delivering updates on their positions, then breaking for internal discussions before the next session, where more updates would be given.þþThe two sides reached agreement on a steroid-testing program on Tuesday, and yesterday they were working on the two key economic issues: revenue sharing and a luxury tax on payrolls. Some player representatives seemed to become more optimistic yesterday that an agreement could be reached.þþÿWe feel like we can really see the end,ÿ Mike Stanton, the Yankees' player representative, said in Boston. ÿThere is still work to be done. I don't want to give the impression it's all done and waiting for Bud's signature. But we're in the ballpark.ÿþþA union official suggested, however, that the player representatives' optimism came more from what they were hearing from their clubs than what they were hearing from the union.þþUnion officials and management representatives were basically silent on the subject of progress, however.þþThe negotiator who talked about the brief meetings, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that in past days negotiators had focused on structural elements of the luxury tax, such as the number of years it would be in effect.þþÿIn the last few days, the focus has been on numbers and we don't have anything resolved in either area,ÿ he said. ÿBut we're working at it.ÿþþNumbers, as in payroll thresholds and tax rates. Those numbers, along with the numbers of dollars that richer teams would contribute to poorer teams, will determine whether the season continues with a day game in Chicago tomorrow and 14 night games tomorrow night or whether the players will scatter to their homes at the start of baseball's sixth strike and ninth work stoppage in three decades.þþAsked if there was time to avert a strike, Selig, who did not participate in the bargaining sessions, said in a telephone interview: ÿI hope so. I believe so. Time will tell. It's a tough situation to read.ÿþþA day earlier Selig had said that if a deal was not reached by midnight tonight or not long afterward, baseball would be ÿon dangerous ground.ÿ Last night he amended that view slightly.þþÿWe have to stretch this out as far as we can,ÿ he said. ÿHopefully, if we're making progress, you can go as long as you can.ÿþþMany teams delayed their charter flights for tomorrow's games. Teams customarily travel to a playing site the day before a game.þþUnion officials have instructed players not to report to parks for tomorrow's games if there is no deal. They do not want to have players walking out of parks, walking ducks for photographs that would certainly elicit scorn from fans.þþIn 1994, when games ended the night of Aug. 11, clubs and players faced no uncertainty about their destinations because they knew the strike was on. The two sides were far enough apart on the clubs' demand for a payroll cap that a strike was guaranteed.þþIn this instance, players today will most likely finish six day games and four night games not knowing whether they will walk out before tomorrow's games.þþWhat they do know is that they will undergo testing for steroid use next spring training, if there is a spring training. Although some details must be worked out, the two sides agreed to a schedule of survey testing and unannounced, random testing.þþThe initial testing will be done as a survey. As long as tests show that fewer than 5 percent of the players use steroids, survey testing will continue. If in any year the tests show that more than 5 percent use steroids, a two-year program of random testing will begin.þþRandom testing will end if fewer than 2 1/2 percent of the players test positive. Survey testing would take its place. The two sides still have to work out whether that 2 1/2 percent would apply to the second year of random testing or both years.þþWherever players are in the program, random testing will not survive the labor agreement. The two sides will have to negotiate a new plan for the next agreement.þþIf random testing begins, a player will not be disciplined for testing positive the first time. A player instead will be placed in the joint drug program for treatment and for more frequent testing. þþPlayers will be disciplined for additional positive tests. The plan calls for six terms of progressive suspensions for second and third offenses, the discipline becoming more severe with each offense.þþPaul Lo Duca, the Los Angeles Dodgers' player representative, was the first person to disclose the steroids agreement to reporters on Tuesday night, but he incorrectly said players had also agreed to testing for cocaine and marijuana. The players had agreed to continue testing only for cause, as has been in effect for years.þþIn the efforts to get agreements on the luxury tax and revenue sharing, negotiators had floated 50 to 100 ideas in the last few days, one of the negotiators estimated. þþOne of those ideas, another negotiator said, dealt with an extra year in the agreement. Instead of having it run through the 2006 season, it could go through 2007. In that way, the clubs could get the four years of payroll taxes they want and the players could get the last year of the agreement tax-free, which they want.þþBut that idea did not survive, both negotiators said, and it is unlikely any agreement will run through 2007.þþ
Source: NY Times
