Fehr Briefs Players on Stalled Talks

Union chief Donald Fehr met with player representatives today to brief them on the stalled negotiations that threaten the start of the regular season.

Talks broke off Monday, with some players saying the fight over salary arbitration eligibility isn’t worth endangering opening day. (Stories, C1.) Camps have been locked for 13 days, and management says they won’t open until there’s an agreement.

“We want to tell them where we are,” Fehr said before he met with more than 50 players. “If they want us to do something different, they’ll tell us.”

Ken Phelps of the Oakland Athletics said, “I was involved in ’85 and basically, we had to give that extra year up to get other things.”

Asked if he thinks the players might accept less than a rollback to two years, Phelps said, “Obviously, we have to give something up.”

Some players have said in recent days that the extra year of eligibility isn’t worth a prolonged work stoppage.

“I know you’re going to have guys upset and ready to go,” Phelps said. “I understand that.”

Fehr said a Monday meeting with Commissioner Fay Vincent “lasted between two and four minutes and was just a courtesy. It had no particular significance.”

Although he’s away from New York, Fehr said negotiating with the owners’ bargaining team would not present a problem.

“If they have something different to say, there are faxes and phones,” Fehr said. “The notion that somehow they can’t bargain because we’re not within six feet of them is silly.”

George Brett and Pete Incaviglia on Monday joined the ranks of players who don’t think rolling back arbitration eligibility from three years to two is an issue so important that camps should remain closed.

“I know there are 649 other players, and some of them feel the same way I do and some feel three years is too long,” Brett, the Kansas City first baseman, said. “Personally, I feel three years is enough.”

“Is two years’ arbitration really that big a deal that we have to really punish the fans and everybody else and the owners to get that?” Incaviglia, the Texas Rangers’ player representative, said. “I don’t think it’s worth it.”