FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -When Major League Baseball Players Association chief Donald Fehr showed up at Fort Lauderdale Stadium to meet with the Orioles on the first day of his annual tour of major league spring training camps, he was met with many of the same questions from the players he has been getting from the media.
The predictable subjects du jour: the moribund free-agent market and the latest chapter in baseball's long-running steroid scandal.
"Basically, as you might expect, we spent some time talking about the economy," Fehr said. "People are interested in what is happening and what has happened with the free-agent market and salaries. We spent some time, obviously, going over what happened with the disclosures last week involving the 2003 [steroid] testing program. And then [I] answered questions and talked about the pension plan and internal staff matters. All of that kind of stuff."
He didn't publicly accuse the owners of colluding to restrict the free-agent market this year, but it isn't hard to read between the lines and sense there is suspicion about the number of players who have settled for below-market contracts or are still trying to find work 10 days into training camp.
"We can't talk about internal discussions, but essentially, every year since the middle 1980s we've looked at the market closely. When you have a market like this one - that seemed to take very long to develop and had fits and starts with significant numbers of players that have yet to sign or haven't - obviously you look at it a lot more closely. When we're finished with that, if there's anything to say, we'll say it. I don't want to make a public comment about it because people would try to draw inferences one way or the other. I'm not ready to have that happen."
The union proved collusion in the mid-1980s and won $280 million in damages that was later distributed to the players who were disadvantaged by the infamous "free-agent freeze-out" that - for instance - prompted marquee outfielder Andre Dawson to offer to sign a blank contract and allow the Chicago Cubs to fill in the salary before the 1987 season. There have been other instances in which there was suspicion the owners were acting in concert in violation of the sport's collective bargaining agreement, but it has been a while since the free-agent market has gone this cold.
