Owners Seem Confident

As the union representing major league players continued to insist owners cannot eliminate teams before next season, a management lawyer Friday told general managers two teams would be folded within weeks and their players would be made available in a dispersal draft.

Also, the Walt Disney Co. has told major league officials it would accept $250 million to sell the Angels to John Henry, owner of the Florida Marlins, a baseball source said.

As part of baseball’s so-called contraction plan, the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos would be eliminated, with Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria buying the Marlins and Henry buying the Angels.

The management lawyer, Frank Coonelly, told general managers that the 28 surviving teams would select players from the Expos and Twins, with teams selecting in reverse order of their records this season.

Coonelly also said no-trade clauses would not be honored, said baseball sources who attended the meeting in Chicago but requested anonymity.

Coonelly spoke only briefly about contraction, but his comments were taken as an indication that owners are supremely confident that they will be able to fold the teams despite objections from the players’ union, the threat of various lawsuits and the risk of Congress revoking the game’s treasured antitrust exemption.

Owners voted Tuesday to proceed with the elimination of two teams, and Coonelly told general managers contraction would occur by Dec. 15.

Commissioner Bud Selig wants a plan in place by Nov. 20, the first day free agents can sign with a team other than the one they played for this season, sources said.

While another management lawyer, Rob Manfred, downplayed the dispersal draft scenario as nothing more than “a contemplated proposal,” the players’ union grew increasingly livid.

Gene Orza, deputy to union chief Donald Fehr, said Friday that management representatives told the union in September that contraction could not be implemented in time for next season.

“Our basic argument is that the basic agreement and its related agreements read as a whole cannot possibly be read to mean that on Nov. 7 you can announce that two teams aren’t going to be playing anymore on Feb. 15,” Orza said. “That’s an inherently preposterous proposition.”

On another front, negotiations continued among management lawyers and representatives for the four owners affected by the contraction plan under consideration, including Disney.

Disney valued the Angels at $300 million when the company nearly sold its baseball team two years ago. By selling at $250 million, the company would make back the $140 million it spent to buy the team and the $98 million it spent to renovate Edison Field but fail to recover most of its operating losses.

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Shaikin reported from Chicago and Reid from Los Angeles. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.