BASEBALL LABOR : Players Will Study Payroll Tax Plan

Baseball’s bargaining talks recessed for a week Saturday to give the players’ union additional time to study the owners’ payroll-tax proposal, but the severity of the formula continued to cast doubt on the possibility of a compromise.

“It’s nothing but a backdoor salary cap,” player agent Tom Reich said. “It’s more oppressive even than the original proposal and is obviously set up for implementation purposes, not negotiations.”

Said John Harrington, chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox and the owners’ lead negotiator: “We’re not hiding the fact that we’re trying to inhibit growth, large growth, in players’ salaries. But this doesn’t stop player signings. I mean, a club still might do it in a particular year if it thought it was close enough to win.”

Negotiations are expected to resume in Washington on Nov. 28 or 29. The owners have said they plan to implement their salary-cap proposal in early to mid-December. Union leader Donald Fehr said he couldn’t predict whether the union would make a counterproposal when the talks resume.