Because MLB management "has accomplished previously
unimaginable things" during the reign of Acting Commissioner
Bud Selig, "many owners have lost their desire to hire an
outside candidate," according to Tom Haudricourt of the
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. With COO Paul Beeston running
the business side, the "prevailing theory is 'don't fix what
ain't broke.'" One possible scenario has Beeston remaining
as COO, Selig staying in his post as Chair of the Executive
Council and "someone such as" NL President Len Coleman being
"named commissioner in what amounts to a figurehead role"
(MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/22). In Philadelphia, Jayson
Stark wrote there are "indications Coleman has emerged as a
prime in-house alternative to Selig as permanent
commissioner" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/22).
IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST...: In N.Y., Murray
Chass, writing on the inaction during the search for a
commissioner, asked, "So does anybody really care?" Red Sox
CEO John Harrington: "Everybody does." But Twins Owner Carl
Pohlad said there has "been less conversation 'than you'd
think.'" Pohlad: "It's been strangely silent" (N.Y. TIMES,
3/22)....In Boston, Peter Gammons wrote that Selig and
Beeston "should seriously consider enlisting" Paul Molitor
as a Deputy Commissioner and liaison to the MLBPA after he
retires at the end of the season. Gammons: "[F]ew union
leaders have ever understood management's side more than
Molitor" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/22)....In N.Y., Tom Keegan wrote
that Expos ownership is a "topic that should have been
discussed" at MLB's quarterly meeting. Keegan called the
Expos a "disgrace. And their competitors are growing sick
and tired of it." One MLB club exec: "Teams are losing
money going there to play. A lot of people are fed up with
the way that's being run up there" (N.Y. POST, 3/22).
