Baseball's chief labor negotiator expects an agreement soon with the players' association on a World Cup tournament, putting aside for now the larger issue of drug tests during the regular season.
Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, said the sides have concentrated on a drug-testing agreement for a World Cup because a decision must be made soon whether to launch the tournament before the 2005 season.
"The focus is on the World Cup because of the timing. But we are equally concerned about the larger issue," he said before Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees 8-3 in Tuesday night's season opener. "We need an agreement in order to have the World Cup tournament. We have an independent set of concerns with respect to certain aspects of the major league policy."