Xanadu Dragon
01-23-2002, 10:44 AM
Anyone have a clue as to what this is all about? This guy was supposed to be part of the answer, no? I can only take this as a bad sign.
Wednesday, January 23
Report: Beeston to stay on till new CBA in place
ESPN.com news services (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0123/1316009.html)
Paul Beeston, Major League Baseball's second-highest-ranking official and its chief representative during secret labor negotiations last spring, told a Toronto newspaper he is leaving baseball at an unspecified date.
According to the Washington Post, baseball sources said Beeston's departure is not tied to the state of negotiations with the union, and Beeston has indicated to associates that he intends to remain with Major League Baseball until a collective bargaining agreement is reached.
"I know I'm leaving, but I haven't set the date," Beeston told the Toronto Star. "I don't think it will be for a while yet."
Beeston, 56, told the newspaper he does not have another job lined up.
News of Beeston's departure comes as baseball closes in on its 11th week without a collective bargaining agreement with the union. Although talks informally have begun, formal negotiations are not scheduled to start until next week at the earliest. Beeston's departure would remove the man the union considers its most sympathetic ear.
Beeston and Rob Manfred, baseball's chief labor lawyer, began negotiating with union chief Donald Fehr last March and continued negotiating until June when, according to Fehr, commissioner Bud Selig halted the talks. Selig's action began a period of ill will between the sides that was exacerbated by the owners' announcement that they would eliminate two teams in 2002.
Manfred declined comment when reached by the Post on Tuesday.
Beeston, who joined the commissioner's office in 1997 from the Toronto Blue Jays, has retained his role in union negotiations, but Selig's action in June was widely viewed as removing much of the authority from Beeston and Manfred. Still, union officials have said they always believed baseball's ultimate authority rested with Selig and the owners.
With spring training camps scheduled to open in a little more than three weeks, Selig has pledged not to impose a lockout and Fehr has said a strike remains a "last resort."
Wednesday, January 23
Report: Beeston to stay on till new CBA in place
ESPN.com news services (http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0123/1316009.html)
Paul Beeston, Major League Baseball's second-highest-ranking official and its chief representative during secret labor negotiations last spring, told a Toronto newspaper he is leaving baseball at an unspecified date.
According to the Washington Post, baseball sources said Beeston's departure is not tied to the state of negotiations with the union, and Beeston has indicated to associates that he intends to remain with Major League Baseball until a collective bargaining agreement is reached.
"I know I'm leaving, but I haven't set the date," Beeston told the Toronto Star. "I don't think it will be for a while yet."
Beeston, 56, told the newspaper he does not have another job lined up.
News of Beeston's departure comes as baseball closes in on its 11th week without a collective bargaining agreement with the union. Although talks informally have begun, formal negotiations are not scheduled to start until next week at the earliest. Beeston's departure would remove the man the union considers its most sympathetic ear.
Beeston and Rob Manfred, baseball's chief labor lawyer, began negotiating with union chief Donald Fehr last March and continued negotiating until June when, according to Fehr, commissioner Bud Selig halted the talks. Selig's action began a period of ill will between the sides that was exacerbated by the owners' announcement that they would eliminate two teams in 2002.
Manfred declined comment when reached by the Post on Tuesday.
Beeston, who joined the commissioner's office in 1997 from the Toronto Blue Jays, has retained his role in union negotiations, but Selig's action in June was widely viewed as removing much of the authority from Beeston and Manfred. Still, union officials have said they always believed baseball's ultimate authority rested with Selig and the owners.
With spring training camps scheduled to open in a little more than three weeks, Selig has pledged not to impose a lockout and Fehr has said a strike remains a "last resort."