UNDER THE RADAR

By Tim Marchman

Tim Marchman writes about baseball for The New York Sun and is one of the brightest voices currently working in the alternative press. He had a piece today that is worth bringing to your attention, but because it is difficult to link to The Sun on-line, Tim has generously agreed to let me reprint the article for “Bronx Banter.”

Frank Coonelly may be the most powerful person in baseball youíve never heard of.

Coonellyís job title is chief labor counsel for Major League Baseball. One AL executive told me that so far as he knew,Coonelly “coordinates our side on the arbitration stuff” and that he is on managementís committee on salaries and relations with the union. Doug Pappas, who is the chairman of the Society for American Baseball Researchís Business of Baseball Committee, puts it this way: “Coonelly is in charge of monitoring compliance with suggested draft bonuses and free-agent negotiations.”

Aside from Pappas, no one I talked to wanted to say anything about Coonelly on the record, and he didnít answer a phone message I left at his office yesterday. But an article by the Seattle Post-Intelligencerís John Hickey on Mariners pitcher Freddy Garciaís salary arbitration case earlier this year is telling. Coonelly, in an unusual