July 2003

Gene Orza is one of the most influential men in baseball today. As the Associate General Counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association ("Players Association"), he is second in command to Executive Director Donald M. Fehr. Recently, Mr. Orza took the time to talk to "Fan's Voice" and answer questions about baseball, bargaining, and the Mets.

One of the first things we discussed was the Basic Agreement ("BA"), which was negotiated by the Players Association and the baseball owners last summer and which is in effect through the end of the 2006 season. When asked how well the new BA is working, Mr. Orza answered, "It is a bit too early to tell. That is an issue that can only be resolved over time. The most fundamental question is what will be the impact of the [luxury] tax issues [whereby teams that spend more than an agreed upon sum on payroll must contribute into a fund that is distributed to low payroll teams], and whether they are going to operate as a salary cap. If they are operating as a salary cap, they will have to be renegotiated in the next BA." This early into the first year of the contract, the Players Association does not yet have the kind of data it requires in order to evaluate the success of the BA, although it has a clear idea of what it will need in order to make that determination.

Another issue affected by the BA is contraction. Prior to the 2002 season, the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos had been slated for elimination, but by the terms of the BA the owners may not contract any teams through the duration of the contract. When asked whether he thought that there might be contraction at the conclusion of the BA, Mr. Orza was emphatic that such a thing would not happen. "By virtue of the BA, the clubs will not even consider contraction through this period. It's not on the front burner. It's not on the back burner. It's not even on the stove."

One area where the owners and the Players Association are in agreement is player security. "We work very cooperatively with Major League security. They're interested in making things safe." Mr. Orza further adds, "No matter what you do, you cannot guarantee that there won't be any additional crackpots. But security has been heightened, and we are hopeful that there will be fewer instances [of fans harming players or other persons on the field] in the future."

Those who pay attention to union matters have noticed that the 2003 Mets are full of current or former union representatives, such as Tom Glavine, Al Leiter, John Franco, David Cone, Jay Bell, Tony Clark and Mike Stanton. One the one hand, Mr. Orza feels that, "the Mets have a lot of experienced personnel; a lot of people with archival knowledge of what has come before, and that's good." However, even prior to this season, "the Mets have always been composed of union-friendly players." Further, it's not as if the Mets are in a position that is substantially different from other teams, because "all of the teams are union-friendly." This year, Leiter handed down the team representative reins to catcher Vance Wilson, who had been the alternate representative last season. Mr. Orza has been impressed with what he has seen of Wilson so far. "He's doing well. There's a learning process, but he is interested, cooperative and enthused. Plus he's willing to learn, which is the most important thing."

Another topic of interest to Mets fans is the trade that brought Mo Vaughn to the Mets from Anaheim in December 2001, and the union-related issues that deal presented. Although the language in the BA states that contracts must be approved by the Commissioner's office, the Players Association does have the ability to withhold its authorization of contracts that are disadvantageous to a player. The trade of Kevin Appier for Vaughn was contingent upon the restructuring of Vaughn's contract, and the initial proposed restructuring was amenable to the Mets and to Vaughn, but not to the Players Association. Mr. Orza elaborated that, "individuals can only have negotiations that bring them additional benefits. Changing a contract is OK, so long as it doesn't take way from what he had before. In this case, using the reasonable man standard, the initial restructuring was not in Vaughn's best interest, so the Players Association would not authorize it. They can make trades of a sort like, 'I'll take fewer dollars in return for a no-trade clause, etc.,' but not a flat out reduction, which was what was being talked about in the Vaughn move." Eventually, the clubs got together and changed certain terms, which paved the way for the Players Association's authorization of the transaction.

Mets fans often inquire about the status of former Mets Rick Reed and Benny Agbayani, who are not members of the Players Association because they were replacement players during the 1994-1995 strike. When asked whether such players could eventually rejoin the union, Mr. Orza answered that it was not likely, and went on to explain that such decisions are not up to the union brass to make. "I think there is always a chance that will happen, but it's up to the players to decide."

Moving from local issues to global ones, the discussion shifted to the world beyond the continental United States. While the clubs cannot commit to international play without the Players Association's approval, "international play is here to stay, and we are partners in the ventures. The history of the world is that it gets smaller, and we are at the forefront of working to internationalize the sport," says Orza.

Another worldwide issue is the possibility of an international draft in the future. The BA did not resolve this issue, but it did call for meetings between the two sides to see whether they can come to an agreement about it. Mr. Orza explains that "the world is composed of two kinds of people -- those who see the reserve system as the natural order, and those who feel that it is the order of a select few. If you see the draft as the natural order of things, then you try to expand it; if not, then you try to restrict it." Because an international draft would subject more players to the reserve system, which would thereby restrict the kinds of salaries that they could potentially command, "the question is what will the clubs be willing to pay for the draft to expand internationally?"

So even with a new BA in place, the Players Associations' work is never done. It was illuminating to have had the opportunity to look at the game from the union's perspective, and Fan's Voice thanks Gene Orza for sharing his views with us.