tender contract

Four years ago, only 16 players were not tendered contracts.

When players are not tendered contracts, they become free agents.

Fifteen of 16 players who were not tendered contracts last December also got jobs.

They have to tender contracts to them or lose them as free agents.

That's the date by which clubs must tender contracts to the approximately 900 players who aren't signed for 1995.

Of the 48 players who became free agents in December when they weren't tendered contracts, 40 have signed.

Players who become free agents because they are not tendered contracts can nevertheless sign with their former teams.

Gallagher was one of six players to whom the Mets did not tender contracts.

When clubs decide they are not going to tender contracts to players, those notices, too, will go out from the commissioner's office.

Clubs must tender contracts to unsigned players by Dec. 20.

The agents also said teams seemed to know in advance which players would not be tendered contracts by Dec. 20.

By not tendering contracts, the clubs can sign players for salaries that represent cuts far greater than 20 percent.

In another development yesterday, 13 players were not tendered contracts by the Dec. 20 deadline, thus becoming free agents.

Yesterday was the deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players, who would have otherwise become free agents.

He added: "A lot of owners have figured out a way around arbitration by not tendering contracts to players.

Perhaps as many as 50 players on major league rosters were not tendered contracts, which means they are free agents.

The existence of arbitration could affect their thinking on tendering contracts to some players by the Dec. 20 deadline.

A year ago, clubs did not tender contracts to 46 players, and league and club officials expected at least that many this year.

Perhaps even more critical, teams have to tender contracts to their players by Dec. 20, a week before the hearing, or lose them as free agents.

Teams must tender contracts to all players on their 40-man rosters by Dec. 20, or the players become free agents.

Two to three months ago, some baseball executives were forecasting an unusually large number of players who would not be tendered contracts by tomorrow's deadline.

When players who are waiting are not tendered contracts by Friday's deadline, the unemployment line could approach 200, flooding the market.

Like many other clubs, they met their legal obligation of tendering contracts by Dec. 20 using salaries players earned in 1986.

Cutting the Budget Teams often choose not to tender contracts as a way of reducing a player's salary by more than the allowable 20 percent.

Thirty-four players in all were not tendered contracts last December as the owners expanded one of the means they used to try to drive down salaries.