NEW YORK -- Baseball players want owners to pay for their failed attempt to fold the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos.

The players' association is pressing ahead with its grievance that claims owners violated their labor agreement when they voted in November to fold two teams, and the union said Wednesday it intends to seek damages.

"That's one of the issues in the case," said Gene Orza, the union's No. 2 official. "Obviously, there is a liability phase."

Agents claim it has been harder to find jobs for their players during this offseason than in the past, and cite the uncertainly caused by contraction and a possible dispersal draft.

"I believe that it affected every single free agent this year," said Tommy Tanzer, whose clients include John Burkett and Sterling Hitchcock. "What they attempted to do was glut the market with players."

Owners claim they can eliminate teams and must bargain only on effects, such as a draft. Rob Manfred, the owners' chief labor lawyer, dismissed talk of damage to the market.

"I haven't seen anything that would indicate that," he said. "Players have signed this winter just as they have every other winter."

In the mid-1980s, players filed three grievances that claimed owners violated their labor contract by colluding not to sign free agents. Arbitrators agreed, and owners gave the union $280 million in 1991 to settle the cases.

It took nearly the rest of the decade for the money to be distributed, and Steve Garvey is still trying to get more, his case going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court last year.

If arbitrator Shyam Das agrees with the union's contention that owners violated the labor contract and damaged the free-agent market, the grievance would move on to how much money players lost.

"We have some familiarity when it comes to determining what are the damages," said Orza, who participated in the collusion cases.

Lawyers for both sides met with Das on Wednesday, and the union asked owners to speed up their production of documents the players have asked for. The sides agreed to recess the case until Feb. 26 and set a schedule of 10 hearing dates through April 10.

Manfred pointed out that the damage claim has been part of the case all along, but the overriding issue was the future of the Twins and Expos.

Faced with an injunction that forced Minnesota to honor its lease at the Metrodome this year, baseball commissioner Bud Selig gave up Tuesday on his plan to eliminate teams this season, but said he will push forward with contraction for 2003. Das, who already has heard 12 days of testimony, will determine whether owners can eliminate teams without the union's permission.

Paul Beeston, baseball's chief operating officer, was the next scheduled witness in the case, but the sides decided not to have any testimony Wednesday. Beeston has told baseball officials in recent weeks that he intends to leave the commissioner's office, perhaps as soon as April or May.

At their meeting, the sides also decided not to resume bargaining for a new labor contract until next week at the earliest.

Meanwhile, lawyers continued to negotiate on the proposed $158.5 million sale of the Florida Marlins from John Henry to Jeffrey Loria, who intends to sell the Montreal Expos to the other 29 teams for $120 million. Henry, who heads the group that has been given approval to buy the Boston Red Sox for $660 million, still doesn't have a signed deal with Loria.

Spring training starts Feb. 14, and Loria intends to bring much of his Expos' staff to Florida, including manager Jeff Torborg, interim general manager Larry Beinfest and executive vice president David Samson.

Selig spoke with other owners Wednesday about structuring a management team for the Expos. Former Anaheim Angels president Tony Tavares is the top contender to become chief executive officer.

"I really haven't had a substantive discussion about it," Tavares said. "I first want to talk to them and see what they're talking about."

Frank Robinson, a vice president in the commissioner's office, is likely to become manager. Former Toronto general manager Gord Ash, former Texas general manager Doug Melvin and New York Mets senior assistant general manager Omar Minaya are the candidates to become GM.

Also, Henry must sell the 1 percent share of the New York Yankees he owns.

Henry originally intended to sell it to a foundation controlled by USA Today founder Al Neuharth, but the Yankees objected. Henry may wind up selling his share to either Yankees controlling owner George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees partnership or YankeeNets, the team's parent company.