With the current labor deal between between baseball's players and owners expiring on Dec. 19, union chief Donald Fehr does see reasons why negotiations could be different this time around from those in previous years. Fehr said he did not believe contentious issues such as a salary cap or contraction would be major issues this year, and the two sides have already agreed to a drug-testing deal.
See "Fehr Optimistic About Labor Talks", Associated Press, The New York Times, February 9, 2006