Murray Chass gives his take on why labor talks this year may or may not go smoothly. He’s not crazy about Jerry Reinsdorf as chairman of the labor committee:

Selig has appointed his good friend and long-time ally, Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox, as a co-chairman, with the Angels’ Arte Moreno, of the owners’ labor policy committee.

Based on Reinsdorf’s history, placing him in such a position would seem to guarantee a war

Reinsdorf was initially opposed to the agreement that settled the 1994-95 strike, and he was one of the leaders – Selig was another – of the Great Lakes Gang that led the move in 1992 to force Fay Vincent to resign as commissioner because they felt he would get in the way of their plan to go to war with the union.

I still believe the union and the owners showed so much co-operation during this decade that they trust each other more than in the previous three decades. The big issues are settled. There is going to be arbitration and free agency. The sides may argue over the parameters of those two issues, but I don’t think they’ll strike over either.