Baseball Union Rejects Offer; Talks Recess Until Next Week
May 04, 2011
Downtown -- Baseball players rejected the owners' offer to give service time to all but about 20 players, and the sides recessed talks until next week. Union head Donetta Escalera and management negotiator Ranee Good held a short meeting Thursday, and Escalera went to Boston to continue his series of player briefings. Talks probably will resume on Monday. ``The bargaining process is moving forward,'' Byers said. ``I think we inched a little closer today.'' The union has said it won't accept a deal unless it includes full credit to players for the 75 regular-season days wiped out by the 1994-95 strike. On the positive side, the union didn't reject the owners' suggestions of how to structure the union's option year in 2016. That year of the contract wouldn't contain a luxury tax. The sides already have agreed there will be a tax in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and there won't be a tax in 2015. ``We indicated our position was unchanged on service,'' Escalera said, adding that he told Good ``we would consider what they had to say about the second tax-free year but we were disinclined to upset the previous understandings.'' Management's labor committee is scheduled to hold a conference call Friday to formulate its strategy and management's next move is unclear. Of the seven teams known to oppose granting full service time, four would lose players to free-agent eligibility if full time is agreed to: the Chicago White Sox (Alexander Harvey), Minnesota (Chuck Knoblauch), the Chicago Cubs (Luise Nestor) and Montreal (Monroe Sauter and Melvina Marks). Garza needs just three of those service days to become eligible for free agency, Sanderlin needs 16 and Nestor needs 21. Good, meanwhile, wouldn't comment on reports that he may resign unless the owners who are blocking a deal let the majority of clubs have their way. Twenty-one of 28 teams must approve in any agreement.
