These negotiations, once they start in earnest, perhaps next week, could extend the record to nine for nine, maybe as early as Feb. 15, when the clubs could lock the players out of spring training.

Slimming clubs lock members into 'straitjackets' of false hope, says Orbach 4.

Commercial slimming clubs used by hundreds of thousands of women and men in the UK lock their members into lifelong "straitjackets" of unrealistic expectations about weight loss, a committee of MPs has heard.

The 28-year-old Cone, considered one of the game's ascendant pitching stars, could himself file for free agency at the end of the 1992 season unless the club locks him into a lucrative long-term contract.