Players’ Union Files Grievance

Major league baseball players fired back at management Thursday, filing a grievance claiming that their labor contract was violated when owners decided on their own to eliminate two franchises.

The complaint came after a two-hour session in New York, the first meeting between union representatives and management since the owners voted Tuesday to contract from 30 to 28 teams, with the Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins the most likely to fold.

The move capped a day of furious activity as all sides sought to position themselves for the challenge of sorting out the contraction issue while negotiating a new bargaining agreement. Officials from the Players’ Assn. met in New York for a strategy session and sources said the group appeared to be working under the assumption that baseball would figure out a way to contract two franchises if that was the ultimate goal. There is speculation that the owners are only using contraction as leverage to achieve concessions in labor negotiations. How that plays out is uncertain.

There was also a meeting of general managers in Chicago, which provided no answers but some comic relief. Asked what he and his colleagues knew about contraction news, one general manager told a reporter, “We’re reading what you’re writing.”

Said Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman: “We really don’t have any answers. We have a lot of questions, just like everybody else.”

The owners say they have the right to eliminate teams but concede that details of the process, including how players from the folded teams will be dispersed, must be negotiated with the union.

The union says the owners violated their labor contract when they unilaterally decided to drop two teams beginning next season.

Owners, union officials and players--Texas Ranger pitcher Rick Helling, New York Met pitcher Al Leiter, and Detroit Tiger infielders Tony Clark and Damion Easley were in New York for the meeting--declined to comment on the record. Sources in attendance confirmed details on the condition they would not be identified.

No agreements were reached and both sides said they would not be able to complete negotiations until the eliminated teams were identified. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has said he expects a contraction agreement by the end of this month, but it’s not clear when management expects to name the two teams. Another meeting was tentatively planned for next week. Barring a settlement, the grievance will be decided by Shyam Das, baseball’s permanent arbitrator.

Montreal has the lowest attendance in the major leagues, and no local English-television contract. Last year, the club didn’t have local TV in English or French and no English radio. Twin owner Carl Pohlad wants to be bought out.

Other possible targets for contraction are the Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

In Minneapolis, a hearing scheduled Thursday on a suit by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Commission was postponed until Tuesday. The commission sued earlier this week to compel the Twins to honor their lease to play in the Metrodome, which runs through next season. Hennepin County District Court Judge Diana Eagon has issued a temporary restraining order against the Twins and major league baseball.

Meanwhile, in Washington, two senators asked a prominent former baseball owner for help.

Sens. Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton, both Democrats from Minnesota, asked President Bush--former controlling owner of the Rangers--to support legislation that would rescind baseball’s antitrust exemption. White House officials had no comment.

Wellstone and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan said they will introduce legislation next week to revoke the exemption, and break the owners’ monopoly over the sport.

“Any time 30 of the wealthiest and most influential individuals get together behind closed doors and agree to reduce output, that cannot be a good thing for anyone but the monopolists,” said Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. “I will do everything in my power to see that this ill-considered decision does not stand.”

In the past, Congress has been reluctant to tamper with baseball’s antitrust exemption.

Conyers compared the owners’ contraction announcement to a “game of musical chairs. Two teams will be left standing and their fans will be left out in the cold,” he said.

What it has done so far is throw a wet blanket over at least one traditional November assembly--the general managers’ meetings here. On Thursday, there was little talk of trades and free agency. This winter’s landscape could shift dramatically, with dozens of players suddenly becoming available.

“You have to be prepared for the uncertainty that lies ahead the best you can,” Houston Astro General Manager Gerry Hunsicker said, “whatever that means.”

The scenarios are many: If your team seeks an outfielder to drive in runs, do you try to sign Moises Alou to an expensive free-agent contract, or do you hope Montreal’s Vladimir Guerrero could become available in a dispersal draft?

If your teams seeks a starting pitcher, do you pay big bucks to Terry Adams, or do you wait for the chance to save money and acquire a younger and perhaps better pitcher in Minnesota’s Joe Mays or Eric Milton?

A dispersal draft would require the blessing of the union and could occur no sooner than the winter meetings, scheduled four weeks away in Boston. If owners do not finalize contraction before then, a draft could wait until January.

Such a draft could resemble a fantasy league, with a team with a high pick selecting a coveted player and leveraging him into several players in trade. If your team needs a specialist, say a left-handed reliever, a team with a higher draft pick could select him on your behalf, in exchange for prospects.

“People might think twice about which direction they want to go,” Chicago White Sox executive Dennis Gilbert said. “They may want to wait to see what’s going to happen. If you’re going to get an opportunity to get somebody of similar value [to a free agent] for less money, you’d have to go in that direction.”

That could translate into concern among free agents, who can sign with their current teams now and with other teams starting Nov. 19. While Barry Bonds need not worry about cashing in on free agency, several general managers indicated they expected to be deluged by calls from good but not great free agents, hoping to sign quickly and avoid the possibility of losing out on a job to a player available in a dispersal draft.

While most general managers bring one assistant to these meetings, new Dodger General Manager Dan Evans brought along Manager Jim Tracy, senior vice president Dave Wallace and four scouts so that every other club could be canvassed repeatedly about trade possibilities.

Stoneman and Ken Forsch, the Angels’ assistant general manager, worked the halls too. And, three weeks after Mo Vaughn told a Boston radio station he wanted to be traded back to the Red Sox, Stoneman said he still is waiting for a face-to-face meeting with Vaughn, whom the Angels believe must lose weight to play effectively at first base.

“He’s really got to focus on his own physical shape,” Stoneman said. “And he’s going to have to focus on getting mentally ready to play for the Angels.”

If contraction is implemented, Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria would buy the Florida Marlins from John Henry, who in turn would buy the Angels from Disney.

While the Marlins do not currently have a general manager--Dave Dombrowski resigned Monday to become president of the Detroit Tigers--Stoneman understands a prospective new owner could import a new general manager. “Owners can do what they would like to do,” Stoneman said. “That’s something I can’t control. There’s just so many other things to focus on.”

And some of that focus isn’t even on the major leagues.

Concerned that the Expos’ affiliate in Clinton and the Twins’ farm club in Quad City would shut down if their major league teams folded, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has asked the Judiciary Committee to hold hearings.

Baseball is contractually obligated to stock the contracted teams’ minor league affiliates with players through the 2003 season.

Pat O’Conner, the chief operating officer and vice president of administration for the National Assn. of Professional Baseball Leagues, said the most obvious scenario would be to designate the affected teams as co-op affiliates that would be filled with players from several parent clubs.

“The commissioner has assured us he will honor his commitment and we have assured him we are willing to accommodate major league baseball as a customer,” O’Conner said. “If team A and B are contracted, their affiliates will not go out of business. Major league baseball does not have the power to contract minor league teams.”

O’Conner conceded, however, that if contraction occurs, it could eventually force some minor league teams out of business. Some short-season affiliates could be phased out as soon as next year, he said.

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Staff writers Jason Reid and Lance Pugmire and the Associated Press contributed to this report.