PHOENIX — Oatmeal nearly gone, bacon in hand and another meeting stuffed with pointed questions behind him, the Apple Watch wrapping Tony Clark's wrist beeped with a message: "Time to stand."
The late-morning breakfast conversation here in a booth of the swanky hotel restaurant paused as the Major League Players Association executive director stopped to consider the message. The winter has been difficult, and the spring arguably has been worse. The seal on the latest Basic Agreement between the players and owners barely has been broken—the sides are just 15 months into the four-year contract—and yet free agents this past winter stepped into a deep freeze and, even now, a couple dozen remain unsigned.