RYE BROOK, N.Y. -- Major-league owners needed just one day to respond to the contract proposal that was presented to them by the Major League Baseball Players Association on Saturday, but the ownership counterproposal met with preliminary skepticism from union leaders.
The new ownership proposal -- which again was presented concurrently with the owners' standing salary cap proposal -- calls for a flat tax similar to the 5 percent tax in the players' plan, but includes an escalating secondary tax that the union worries will work in the same way as a hard cap on salaries.
The owners have given the players 24 hours to respond.
"We worked around the clock Saturday and Sunday and have made a meaningful attempt to move these negotiations forward," said Boston Red Sox general partner John Harrington, the head of the ownership bargaining committee. "We have made an alternate proposal to the players' proposal in which we looked favorably on some of the non-economic issues that they proposed.
"Our proposal uses the framework of the proposal that the players gave us yesterday. We adjusted their proposal to fit our need for cost control and competitive balance."
The owners embraced the players' flat tax and reacted positively to the creation of a joint investment fund, but the management nTC proposal calls for a delayed threshold tax on payrolls and includes the elimination of salary arbitration in exchange for four-year free agency.
"We made a point of staying within their framework," said Atlanta Braves president Stan Kasten. "They offered us some very interesting and enlightening proposals. They opened the door to a partnership. We think it behooves us to go through that door. The question is whether they want to come through that door or slam it in our face."
Union officials voiced skepticism for a couple of reasons. First, the owners again made it clear that their modified salary cap proposal remains on the table, so they will be able to implement it if there is no agreement soon. Second, the proposal was relayed to the union in skeleton form, and there was not time to analyze the secondary tax.
The owners have asked the union to do that in a hurry. Union officials said that they will try to meet tonight's deadline, but made no guarantee that they could unravel the new proposal that quickly.
"At first blush, it appears that their counterproposal contains virtually all the elements of a salary cap," union director Donald Fehr said. "We'll respond as fast as we can, as we would have anyway. If we're ready tomorrow afternoon [today], we'll do it then. If it's tomorrow night [tonight], fine. If they want to rush off to their meeting, they'll do what they want to do."
Fehr was referring to a major-league meeting Thursday in which the owners are expected to impose the salary cap if they have not reached an agreement.
The ownership offer apparently calls for a flat tax of 4.64 percent, compared with the players' 5.02 percent tax proposal. But the owners' secondary tax would evolve into a far more onerous tax system if the growth of revenues does not boost struggling small-market teams. Union officials fear that the trigger mechanism is almost automatic, which would make it similar to the severe tax plan proposed by the owners last month in Herndon, Va.
If the players do not respond in a positive way, the owners are almost certain to impose their salary cap proposal on Thursday and touch off a firestorm of litigation.