Union, Agents Discuss Freeze on Signings : Labor: Expectation is that the owners will implement salary cap despite new proposal.

Nothing was decided, but officials of the baseball players’ union met with about 40 prominent agents in Atlanta on Thursday and discussed the possibility of a freeze on signings if the owners vote to unilaterally implement their salary-cap proposal next Thursday in Chicago.

The agents left it in the hands of the union, but a freeze would be mostly cosmetic since the players will resume their strike next spring if the owners implement and attempt to open the camps with replacement players.

“It’s fair to say that there is an assumption on the part of the agents that the owners will implement no matter what we do,” union leader Donald Fehr said, referring to a proposal the union is expected to deliver to special mediator William J. Usery tonight and to the owners’ negotiating committee in Rye Brook, N.Y., on Saturday.

Said a veteran agent: “I think the owners will spit on the proposal because it doesn’t give them their backdoor salary cap.”

The proposal doesn’t provide a cap of any kind, doesn’t modify arbitration or free agency in any way, and the upgraded tax rate is unlikely to satisfy the owners’ demand for cost controls, a drag on salary growth.

According to sources, the proposal is more philosophical than fiscal, designed to challenge the owners’ frequent assertions that they ultimately want to develop a partnership with the players.

It calls for the players to have a vote in major industry decisions, such as the hiring of a commissioner, and to participate with the owners in joint marketing and capital ventures such as international expansion and inner-city development, with the players contributing about $25 million from their licensing revenue.

It also calls for about a 5.33% tax on the highest payrolls, generating about $58 million for the small-revenue clubs, up from the $30-million plan the union proposed in September but far short of the more than 100% rate in the owners’ recently proposed tax plan, a cap in disguise according to the union.

“It’s a bold proposal,” San Diego-based agent Tony Attanasio said. “I think it will clearly get a lot of attention from those owners interested in making a move forward. For those with preconceived notions of implementation, it won’t do anything.”