Tactic by Some Owners Could Lead to a Breakdown in Baseball Talks

Baseball’s labor negotiations remained in limbo Monday as some owners, opponents of crediting the players with service time while they were on strike, are now suggesting that service time be offered in trade for an item that is part of another trade-off.

“The owners may have a lot of gall, but I can’t believe they’d ask [management negotiator] Randy Levine to go back to the table and reopen an already compromised trade-off,” a lawyer familiar with the talks said.

“It would be bad-faith negotiating, and I don’t think Randy would do it. He’d quit first.”

When long-stalled talks suddenly erupted into nearly 48 hours of round-the-clock meetings a week ago, the action stemmed from a union offer to reduce its share of divisional playoff receipts from 80% to 60%. In exchange, the players would get an option on a second, tax-free year at the end of what would be a six-year agreement, if the union exercised the option in 2001.

A management source said that both acting Commissioner Bud Selig and the owners’ labor policy committee were aware that an agreement was reached on that trade-off, leading to agreements on virtually all other issues, aside from service time.

Now, according to the source, hard-line owners are trying to use the second, tax-free year as a “stalking horse” in possible trade for service time, which would destroy the potential settlement since it was the second, tax-free year that led to union concessions on other items and management would probably have to find a new negotiator.

Resumption of talks is not expected before Wednesday.