Posted on 07/10/2002 7:30:40 PM PDT by Mike Fieschko
JULY 10, 22:10 ET
Selig: Team Might Not Make Payroll
AP/Morry Gash [24K] NEW YORK (AP) As baseball prepared to resume labor negotiations following an All-Star break dominated by talk of strike, steroids and stalemate, commissioner Bud Selig claimed a team may not be able to make payroll Monday.
Selig made the comment during an interview Wednesday in Milwaukee with the Houston Chronicle and other papers, saying during the session that a second team had so much debt that it might not finish the season.
Selig did not identify the teams he was referring to, and there was no way to corroborate his claims. Reached at his home Wednesday night, Selig refused to discuss the subject.
``I'm done. Major league baseball's credit lines are at the maximum,'' Selig was quoted as saying in Thursday's editions of the Chronicle. ``We've done everything we can to help people by arranging credit lines. Frankly, at this point in time, we don't have that luxury anymore.
``If a club can't make it, I have to let 'em go. I'm a traditionalist, and I hate all that. It pains me to do it. I just don't have any more alternatives.''
The talks are to resume Thursday.
Players and owners have not held a full negotiating session since June 27, and are far apart on all the key issues: increase revenue sharing among teams, the owners' proposal for a luxury tax to slow payroll growth, random testing for steroids and other drugs, extending the amateur draft world wide, and management's attempt to change salary arbitration rules and eligibility.
On Monday, the union's executive board met in a Chicago suburb. While the board did not set a strike date then, it asked players on individual teams to give it authority to set one. If there is no progress in negotiations, the executive board is expected to call for baseball's ninth work stoppage, setting a walkout date for August or September.
Players and owners also await the upcoming ruling from arbitrator Shyam Das, who heard the grievance filed by the union, which claims management's attempt to fold the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos violated the previous labor contract, which expired Nov. 7.
Das has told the sides he will attempt to have a decision by Monday. Contraction was put off by Selig until after the 2002 season following a string of legal losses by baseball in the Minnesota courts, which ruled the Twins had to honor their 2002 lease in the Metrodome.
Selig is to baseball what Dr.Kervorian is to medicine.
Dr. Death.
The patient started dying in 1994.
Higher and higher salaries, higher ticket prices, higher food prices... Hell, between parking, tickets, and food a family night for four decent seats at the Ballpark in Arlington will run you about $200.
Baseball is cutting it's own throat. Thank God it is only 3 weeks to pre-season NFL football!
Did you hear Chris "Mad Dog" Russo's interview with Marvin Miller? How in the world is the Mad Dog so popular -- he asks very long, convoluted questions, gives the interviewee two seconds to answer, then he interrupts and answers his own question!
"Mad Dog" is in love with the nasal annoying sound of his own voice. He's been this way since he started at FAN!
My local news, WIS TV in Columbia,SC said that another unnamed team may not make it through the end of the season.
Now we know why the players chose not to make any strike plans in their meeting. They're afraid they may not have jobs to come back to.
Brother, you ain't just whistling Dixie. To hell with the whole sorry lot. Too many teams, sky-rocketing payrolls, refusal to implement genuine revenue sharing, and Steinbrenner have killed it. Please, go on strike, end the season. We can get the grass down early at Joe Robbie (I will always call it that, he built it out of his own pocket, for crying out loud)and I won't have to worry about Ricky Williams blowing out his knee every time he has to run through that dirt. Whether or not he can get home from the game without getting pulled over is another matter. Pete Rozelle (sp?) was a freaking genius. Thank God for football.
And yes, it will always be Joe Robbie Stadium to me. The man listened to the fans, and kept the Dolphins in Miami by building a new stadium himself instead of asking for the taxpayers to foot the bill.
I hope the Marlins are the team to be contracted.
Meanwhile, several congressmen sent a letter to players and owners urging them to adopt a drug-testing policy, The Herald of New Britain, Conn., reported.Is this really one of the more important issues facing our nation today, Congressmen?"Instituting mandatory, random drug testing is the only way to signal that our nation's pastime is serious about banning steroids," the letter said.
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