SARASOTA, Fla. -- The Orioles will permit their minor-leaguers to sit out exhibition games and honor the Major League Baseball Players Association's interpretation of strikebreaking, if the minor-leaguers so choose.
However, they will be strongly encouraged by the Orioles to play, owner Peter Angelos said last night.
Union chief Donald Fehr announced Sunday that anyone who appears in an exhibition game "that is played at either the major-league site or for which admission is charged" will be considered a strikebreaker by the players association.
That would include Orioles minor-leaguers, even though Angelos has said his minor-leaguers would play exhibitions against other minor-leaguers, and not against replacement players.
Manager Phil Regan said -- and Angelos later agreed -- that there will be no punitive measures taken against an Orioles minor-leaguer who refuses to participate.
"I don't think there will be any repercussions or fines or anything like that," Regan said. "If you were a top prospect, [opposing the union] would be something you'd have to think about."
But Regan plans to talk with the players beforehand.
"I think we would want to see what their reasons are. We can explain to them that in our opinion they're not playing against replacement players as such, because none of these players have been signed. Maybe if we explain it to them, they would [play]."
Angelos said: "We should do everything we can do to educate them that playing in exhibition games against minor-leaguers from other teams does not represent strikebreaking. I think Don Fehr is completely incorrect in making that interpretation."
So why not force the minor-leaguers to play?
"Hey, this is a difficult time for everybody," Angelos said. "We're not going to do anything like that."