Luxury Tax

PITTSBURGH - The Phillies will once again enter a season on the verge of the luxury-tax threshold. In fact, they are so close that we probably will not know until the end of the year whether they have eclipsed it. Right now, the Phillies have a projected official payroll of about $170.63 million. But only $166.57 million of that is in the form of guaranteed contracts. Right now, the Phillies are essentially paying two second basemen, since Chase Utley doesn't stop getting paid because he is injured.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Cole Hamels did not come to spring training with any illusions. He will leave Florida on Sunday with his teammates and there will almost certainly be no new contract to sign. Free agency is closer than ever. Yet all along, Hamels has spoken and acted with great confidence. He will soon be an even richer man, this much is sure. But as players inch toward massive paydays, nerves can dominate. "Things will take care of itself," Hamels said Thursday after his final Grapefruit League outing - 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one run surrendered.

You are Cole Hamels and you have the world at your feet. You are a lefthanded starting pitching ace, with Hollywood good looks, a sterling resumé of charity work in the community, and a popular, beautiful wife by your side. Your major-league talents are showcased by one of the best teams in baseball. You are on the verge of the biggest payday of your life. Behind Door No. 1 is a surefire cash deal your current team may be willing to provide: say, a five-year contract at an average of $20 million a year.

Mission unaccomplished. The NBA's owners and players struck a labor deal early Saturday morning that will end the most underwhelming sports labor stoppage ever, but it does not appear to fix any of the league's real problems. While details were still trickling out and the full scope of the deal wasn't known, the new contract apparently will be full of the same old gibberish: "midlevel exception" and "mini-midlevel exception" and "Commissioner Stern. " Anyone hoping this stare-down would produce a fresh start with sensible rules governing contracts and player movement - that is, anyone who wanted to see true competitive balance in the league that lacks it most - had to shudder at the words of deputy NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

FORMER NBA GUARD Cuttino Mobley filed a lawsuit against Madison Square Garden yesterday, accusing the New York Knicks of pressuring him to retire as a way to save approximately $19 million. Mobley, a Philadelphia native and graduate of Cardinal Dougherty, retired because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart disease, shortly after the Knicks acquired him from the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 21, 2008. It is the same disease that felled another Philadelphia star, Hank Gathers, in 1990.

Former NBA guard Cuttino Mobley, a Philadelphia native, filed a lawsuit in New York against Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, accusing the Knicks of pressuring him to retire as a way to save about $19 million. Mobley, now 36, retired because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart disease, shortly after the Knicks acquired him from the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 21, 2008. The former Cardinal Dougherty High star knew he had an irregularity with the heart, but an MRI exam the team ordered after his physical revealed the more serious condition.

MIAMI - Decision day for NBA players may have arrived. The National Basketball Players Association will meet in New York on Monday for a session that could lead to the end of the lockout or send it into a bigger tailspin. Representatives from all 30 teams are expected, as are other players, to examine and discuss a seven-page summary of the NBA's latest collective bargaining proposal. Commissioner David Stern has said if the latest offer is rejected, a harsher one - where owners would keep about another $120 million of basketball related income, or BRI, each year, along with other so-called system issues that players didn't want - will take its place.

The split of basketball revenue is the final hurdle to the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreeing on a collective bargaining agreement and ending what is now a 121-day lockout. Talks between the sides dissolved late Friday afternoon after more than 30 hours of bargaining spanning three days. Immediately after Friday's meltdown, NBA commissioner David Stern announced the cancellation of games through Nov. 30 and stated clearly that a full 82-game schedule was impossible.

NEW YORK - NBA owners and players ended negotiations Wednesday after more than eight hours. Federal mediator George Cohen said the two sides would resume bargaining Thursday afternoon. Owners had to leave to attend board of governors meetings Wednesday evening through midday Thursday. "The discussions have been direct and constructive, and as far as we are concerned, we are here to continue to help assist the parties to endeavor to reach an agreement," Cohen said. The two sides met for more than 24 hours in a 32-hour span.