BASEBALL LABOR : Talks to Be Resumed by Usery Today

Baseball’s labor talks will resume in Washington today with what is expected to be mostly a procedural session with special mediator William J. Usery. Daily negotiations are not likely to begin until next week and there is no indication of a change in positions by either side.

“I don’t have any reason to believe Bud Selig has changed his mind one bit, but hope springs eternal,” union lawyer Eugene Orza said Tuesday in reference to the acting commissioner and the owners’ quest for a salary cap.

Selig confirmed that there has been no change in the owners’ proposal and said he would honor Usery’s desire for a gag rule on negotiating specifics. Selig said the mediator has already been in contact with both sides.

“He has a lot of catching up to do and he’s doing that aggressively,” Selig said.

In the meantime, 17 more players filed for free agency Tuesday, among them Bo Jackson and Rex Hudler of the Angels.

In today’s negotiating meeting with Usery, management lawyers Dick Ravitch and Chuck O’Connor will be accompanied by 11 of the 12 owners and club executives selected by Selig to his original negotiating team, including Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris, who has maintained the closest ties to the union.

Orza said six or seven members of the players’ negotiating committee would attend the first negotiating session since Sept. 9 and only the fourth since the strike began on Aug. 12.

Although there has been some speculation that Usery will be the means by which the owners save face and eventually back off of the salary cap, an attorney familiar with the situation said the owners still seem determined to implement their proposal unilaterally.

“Both sides are in a box they can’t get out of,” he said. “The players will never approve a cap, and the owners have already wiped out the season and World Series. They aren’t going to change directions now.”