Talk runs rampant about MLB folding two of its teams

PHOENIX -- Baseball is abuzz about two of its teams -- but not the ones in the World Series.

The talk has been about "contraction," a term the sport's owners use when referring to getting rid of financially struggling teams.

Owners, who meet next Nov. 6, may discuss folding franchises. If so, the Montreal Expos are a sure goner. And because the baseball schedule requires an even number of teams to be in each league, other teams are vulnerable, including Florida, Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

Why eliminate teams?

Because they drain money from their competitors, who must subsidize their lack of revenue.

For all the telephone talk, however, there's been no action.

"No decisions have been made on anything," commissioner Bud Selig said this week.

Three high-ranking baseball executives on other teams, speaking on the condition they not be identified, said no information has been distributed by Selig to ballclubs about the possibility of eliminating teams.

Another top baseball executive, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Selig had not made his thoughts known to his inner circle and was unlikely to do so until just before he decides what he wants to do.

Selig's stance has teams wondering.

"Where there's smoke, there's usually fire," Arizona owner Jerry Colangelo said Friday. "But I really don't know."

Owners have not discussed folding teams with the Major League Baseball Players Association, according to union head Donald Fehr. The union maintains that getting rid of teams is subject to collective bargaining and that owners can't take such action without the permission of the players' association.

Baseball's labor agreement expires after the World Series, and owners must decide at next month's meeting whether they will lock out players -- which would be the sport's ninth work stoppage since 1972.

"All these are moving parts," Selig said. "We have to solve issues in the various areas."

Odds against quick move

The four unidentified baseball executives said odds are against eliminating teams before next season. Several teams already have released schedules for next year, and all 30 clubs are scheduled to play.

Teams already are committing to charter flights and hotel rooms based on the preliminary schedule, which still awaits approval from the union, which much approve interleague play each year.

While some owners believe they can eliminate teams without the union, most say a deal with the players' association would have to be negotiated on how to disperse players on the eliminated teams, such as Montreal's star outfielder, Vladimir Guerrero.

And given the past bargaining sessions between the sides, talks on any substantive issue are likely to be lengthy.

Folding teams would involve the loss of about 60 jobs for players, and the union would want them to receive the money that would have been spent on those salaries to come to players in other areas.

"To my knowledge, from everything I've been told, the Florida Marlins will continue to exist in 2002, and that's how we're proceeding," Marlins president Dave Dombrowski said.