BASEBALL : Fehr: Agreement Won’t Be Easy

Donald Fehr, executive director of the baseball players’ union, sent a memo to the membership Friday stressing that a settlement will not come easily when bargaining negotiations resume Monday in Washington and that the union will definitely challenge a unilateral implementation of the salary cap by the owners.

The owners voted in Chicago on Thursday to declare an impasse and implement the cap if an agreement is not reached by Thursday midnight.

“While it is a positive sign that the owners want to continue talking, it will not be easy to reach an agreement,” Fehr said in the memo to players and agents. “If there is no breakthrough, we expect the owners to impose the cap on the 23rd.

“We do not agree that the negotiations are at impasse, or that the owners can legally impose the cap.”

It was also learned that the owners received a financial report Thursday that showed the 28 clubs had debts totaling $600 million, including about $125 million with the central line of credit. “Those are by far the largest numbers we’ve ever had in baseball,” one owner said.