MONTREAL – Stagnation on the labor front fanned Phil Nevin's competitive fire yesterday.
At one point, Nevin told a Canadian television reporter that "we're not going to give in. We never have and we never will."
Nevin, the Padres' acting player representative, amended those remarks, but he said the players were pushed by ownership into setting an Aug. 30 strike date yesterday.
"I just want the fans to know that, for one, a strike is the last resort, and, two, we don't want it to come down to that date," said Nevin, the Padres third baseman. "We want it done tomorrow. We want to have something agreed upon. We're probably still willing to move some, and hopefully they're willing to move at all."
Manager Bruce Bochy said he's confident that major league baseball will avert what would be its ninth work stoppage since 1972.
"Deadlines have to be set to create a sense of urgency to get something done," he said. "It's almost like poker, too, with both sides holding their cards. I'm still very optimistic something will get done."
Reliever Trevor Hoffman was with the players association on Aug. 12, 1994, when the players began a 232-day strike.
"No matter what the work is, unless you get an 11th-hour deadline, things don't get done," Hoffman said. "Unfortunately, that's the way it works. In a sense, it's discouraging, but by no means is it the end of the world yet. You still have to be optimistic. But regardless of what your status is in the game, it's still brings home the reality there might not be baseball."
Commissioner Bud Selig has said for a decade that the major leagues cannot survive without concessions from players.
Nevin said the players have given up far more than owners in these negotiations, specifically in regards to the luxury tax.
"How much can we give these guys, the billionaires that need their messes cleaned up?" Nevin said. "It's hard for me because our owner (John Moores) is one of the hard-liners. I love John to death. They knew what they got into when they came here. I hate to say it, but if you can't handle it, get out."
Referring to owners' attempts to control rising salaries, Nevin said, "They want us to clean up their mess. They don't want any part about it. They got themselves in this position, and they want us to sacrifice what we've had to fix their problems. It's their problem, not ours."
Nevin said he was sickened by yesterday's media conference at which Rob Manfred, MLB's lead negotiator, and Orioles owner Peter Angelos spoke.
"We could have very easily called a press conference and bashed the owners," Nevin said. "We don't feel like that's bargaining in good faith. That's not conducive to coming in with an agreement. I guess they felt it necessary to have all their big guns at a press conference.
"I think the fans see that this year, they understand that. In 1994, I don't think they understood that. But I think they understand the people that we're dealing with. You hear interviews with Bud Selig, and you hear interviews with these people. I think fans are getting a pretty good idea of the people we're having to deal with and how we're having to deal with them."
Outfielder Ron Gant, a 15-year veteran, said setting a strike date "is not surprising to us because this has been the pattern before. All of the players are together. They (the owners) have got another think coming if they don't think we need to set a date. And just because we set a date doesn't mean all hope is lost. We'll keep negotiating and try to get something done before the deadline. If we can't, we'll have to go from there."
