Tonight’s Season Opener is Postponed by Owners : Baseball: Exhibitions also canceled pending lockout vote today, but Brewers say clubs have been told to release replacement players

Baseball’s replacement season was put on hold Saturday, pending the results of a lockout vote at Sunday’s owners meeting in Chicago.

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig said Sunday night’s scheduled replacement-player opener between the New York Mets and Florida Marlins was being postponed.

Sunday’s final exhibition games, including the last game of the Freeway Series between the California Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers, were canceled. Barring a lockout, major league players could begin reporting to spring training camps Monday.

According to the Associated Press, the Milwaukee Brewers released their replacements Saturday, and General Manger Sal Bando said the other clubs were told to do the same by management’s Player Relations Committee.

Referring to the Chicago meeting, Selig said Saturday: “Until we have a chance to review all of our options, everyone felt we should cancel tomorrow’s games.”

The Chicago meeting was called after the players’ union offered to end the 232-day strike Friday, when U.S. District Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor ordered a temporary injunction restoring key provisions of the expired labor agreement, including salary arbitration, free-agent bidding and the anti-collusion clause pertaining to free agency.

Owners have steadfastly said they did not want to play another season under terms of the expired agreement, but it is not certain there are the required 21 who would vote to approve a lockout carrying significant financial risks.

“I’m just one owner, but my guess is that we’re not going to lock out,” Owner George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees said on CBS during halftime of the UCLA-Oklahoma State NCAA baskektball telecast.

Steinbrenner said he expected regular players to return next week for a 21-day training period and that ultimately the owners and players would reach a bargaining settlement “to clean up this mess.”

The Yankees, Mets, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres are believed to be against a lockout, with the Dodgers (Owner Peter O’Malley maintained Saturday that he has not decided), Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox believed leaning that way.

“Our first decision tomorrow is to vote on a lockout,” Colorado Owner Jerry McMorris said. “That’s the big decision in front of us, then the rest of the pieces will fall into place.

“I think you’ll have a majority of votes in favor of it, but I don’t know if you’ll have enough to get to three-quarters.

“I’ve been very clear in my postion. I’m not inclined to vote for a lockout because I don’t think it’s in the best interest of this franchise, but I won’t make a final decision until I see the judge’s order.”

Added an American League owner: “There’s a lot of intense feeling for a lockout, but a lot of clubs haven’t received a complete report on the risks and options. Bud hasn’t given anyone his opinion yet, and a lot of clubs could be swayed by that.”

If a lockout is defeated, there may be a subsequent vote requiring only majority approval on the playing of replacement games while the regulars are in training.

“I don’t know what votes we’ll take,” Selig said. “We’ll discuss a number of scenarios and then decide.”

There were several developments Saturday:

-- It was learned that the owners’ Player Relations Committee sent a memo to the clubs giving them permission to start signing players. The PRC, in what was tantamount to a signing freeze, became the sold bargaining agent for the 28 teams on Feb. 6, when it also eliminated the provisions now restored by the injunction.

“They had no choice,” union leader Donald Fehr said of the PRC memo. “I mean, they’re under court order.”

Barring a lockout, Fehr added it should be “fairly easy” to establish a timetable for salary arbitration and free agent signings.

-- Lawyers for the two sides met at the union office to discuss “back to work” rules. There were no agreements, Fehr said, but a source familiar with the discussions said there is a tentative agreement for the camps to open to regular players on Monday, with a mandatory reporting date of Wednesday. Foreign players who have been unable to obtain visas during the stoppage would be given longer to report. The union would establish a training base for the more than 100 free agents in Homestead, Fla., and a season of between 139 to 145 games would begin about April 24.

Fehr described the discussions as “business-like,” but said he did not think they automatically suggested the owners will accept the players’ offer to return.

“I don’t think we’ll know that until tomorrow,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and everything will go forward swimmingly. We’ll see.”