Owners, players work on deal to delay contraction

BOSTON -- Players and owners were close to an agreement Monday night that would delay eliminating teams until at least 2003, officials on both sides said.

The deal would ensure that the Minnesota Twins and the Montreal Expos, the teams most likely to be targeted, would survive one more season and that the jobs of approximately 60 major leaguers would be saved in 2003.

Owners would gain the union's acknowledgement that management unilaterally had the right to fold franchises. Owners have maintained they must bargain merely over the effects of contraction, such as a dispersal draft.

While the parties did not speak publicly about the deal, the status of negotiations was confirmed by three management officials and one union official who spoke on the condition they not be identified.

"There have been ongoing discussions for several days on this topic," said Sandy Alderson, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner's office. "A deal, if it comes, could come at any time."

The hearing on the union's grievance was to have resumed Monday, but the sides instead spent the day negotiating an agreement.