The tenor of the negotiations between baseball management and players turned very sour on Saturday, just two days after both sides optimistically expressed hope of reaching an agreement before the union's Friday strike deadline.

After a 10-day delay, the union presented its counterproposal on revenue sharing and the luxury tax, which management's top labor lawyer Rob Manfred characterized, in a conference call, as a sign of "raw, regressive bargaining." The owners and players now appear headed for their ninth work stoppage since 1972.

"We were led to believe that the delay was due to the fact that they wanted to make a meaningful step towards an agreement," Manfred said. "That's why we had been so patient over the last 10 days."

Negotiations resumed Sunday afternoon at baseball's headquarters in New York. Gene Orza, associate general counsel for the Players' Association, attended the bargaining session but union head Donald Fehr was not present at the meeting.

In what Manfred on Saturday called "the most disappointing aspect of the proposal," the union proposed a phase-in revenue sharing plan, where the money shared would increase each year until it reached a total transfer of $240 million in the fourth year of the agreement.

"The proposal was clearly not regressive," Fehr said, in a separate conference call. "It was forthcoming in the tax area, both in rates and on thresholds. It was a proposal in their direction on revenue sharing, both on a number of technical matters that they felt important about and about the overall amounts."

In the union's proposal, total revenue sharing in 2003 would equal $172 million ($3 million more than the current plan), $195 million in 2004, $217 million in 2005 and $240 million in 2006.

All along, management said it believed that the players were advocating a transfer of $238 million in each year of the agreement, as Manfred said he hadn't even heard about the principal of the phase-in type proposal until Aug. 4. Fehr's opinion differed, saying the clubs had known about possible proposals for a phase-in for months.

Because of the phase-in, the union proposes to share $116 million less over the life of the agreement than what management had previously thought.

"When they were making the proposal, it was not made in a way that suggested that even they thought it was going to be a positive," said Manfred, who noted that the presentation of the proposal included a "monologue" from Fehr regarding his perception of the state of negotiations.

Management advocated $268 million in each year of the agreement, which now brings the total difference in revenue sharing transfer over the life of the agreement to $248 million, instead of the $120 million that was believed to have been the difference.

A-Rod backtracks

Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez backtracked from his comments Friday that he would give back 30 to 40 percent of his pay if it would improve the sport. "I'm willing to do my part. Thirty to 40 percent? Probably not. I was speaking off the cuff," he said. "What I wanted to say is I love the game of baseball and would do anything to help it. Obviously, that was a very drastic statement. I wouldn't take it literally." Rodriguez said he had not heard from Texas owner Tom Hicks, who signed him to the record $252 million, 10-year deal in December 2000. "I don't think Tom Hicks has my cell phone number," Rodriguez said. -- Associated Press

"My absolute nightmare scenario was that he was going to come back and say, 'Let me bridge the difference between my 236 (million) and your 268 (million) over the first couple years of the deal,'" Manfred said. "Not that he was going to say, 'I can't get to your number, plus I've decided to phase my number in over four years.'"

Although there was a revenue sharing phase-in in the last agreement, Manfred said that was due to the fact that there was no revenue sharing prior to the 1995 season.

The union did agree to lower the luxury tax threshold by $5 million per year. Under those terms, the luxury tax threshold (including the 40-man roster and benefits) would be $125 million in 2003, $135 million in 2004 and $145 million in 2005.

The union proposed that teams exceeding the threshold in 2003 would pay a 15 percent tax.

"The $125 million (threshold in the first year) will hit the Yankees and graze one other club, that club being Texas," Manfred said. "They moved around in a zone of thresholds where the tax doesn't hit anybody."

In 2004, a team that exceeded the threshold for a second time would pay a 25 percent tax, while clubs exceeding the threshold for the first time would pay a 20 percent tax. In 2005, teams exceeding the threshold for the third time would be assessed a 40 percent penalty, second-time offenders would pay a 30 percent tax, while teams going over the threshold for the first time would pay a 20 percent tax. The union proposed that 2006 be a tax-free year for all clubs.

The owners have proposed a luxury tax threshold of $102 million and suggest taxes ranging from 37.5 percent to 50 percent.

"We have attempted to accommodate the clubs where we can, to move in directions that they thought were important, where we could, consistent with what the players' interests are in this round of bargaining," Fehr said.

Manfred said the two sides, which still have to work out details on non-core issues such as a drug-testing program and a worldwide draft, plan to meet Sunday.

"The proposal we received was so out of the realm of expectation that it's going to take us some time," Manfred said.

"I can't tell you whether there is going to be a strike. We have not set a deadline, threatened to apply economic leverage to the players, none of that has come from us. It's the players that set the strike date and it's the players that are going to decide whether the game is not going to be played."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espnpub.com.