MLBPA chief Tony Clark and his staff, which included former players in Dave Winfield, Kevin Slowey and Jose Cruz, Jr. were in the clubhouse this morning to brief the players on a variety of subjects.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between players and owners expires this year, so everyone is watching to see if the sides can hammer out a deal as easily as they have the last two times. Baseball is closing in on being a $10 billion industry. Money is being made. There are numerous reasons not to screw this up. But there are issues that have to be addressed.
One of the most-talked about issues is the draft pick compensation attached to free agents who reject qualifying offers. That has led to many free agents going into January and February still looking for jobs.
Players want to know where they are headed and teams want to have their rosters settled.
``We have heard a lot about the topic,'' Clark said. ``It is one of the issues we are going to look at and have looked at. On a very fundamental level, every time you have a system in place that creates a dynamic that is detrimental to a player or a club it's worthy of more conversation.''
Clark said there are plenty of options that can be looked at.
The sides have been good about starting talks during spring training and wrapping things up by the end of the World Series or a little later. Let's see if this negation follows the same path
Twins v Phillies
Byung Ho Park is batting cleanup today. Makes sense since he is the leading home run hitter in camp.
Eduardo Nunez is at short today and he continues to prove he can handle a utility role Nunez is 6-for-12 in spring games.
Tommy Milone is expected to last three innings or 45 pitches, whichever comes first. If he gets through three innings on thirtysomething pitches, he will head to the bullpen and throw a few more. Glen Perkins, Casey Fien, Michael Tonkin, J.R. Graham and others are on the list to pitch.
Phillies
Roman Quinn, CF
Freddy Galvis, SS
Andres Blanco, 2B
Maikel Franco, 3B
Andrew Knapp, DH
Tyler Goeddel, LF
Brock Stassi, 1B
Cameron Rupp, C
Cedric Hunter, RF
Zach Elfin, RHP
Twins
Jorge Polanco, 2B
Eduardo Nunez, SS
Joe Mauer, 1B
Byung Ho Park, DH
Eddie Rosario, LF
Max Kepler, CF
Darin Mastroianni, RF
Juan Centeno, C
Wilfredo Tovar, 3B
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Tommy Milone, LHP
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La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
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