1.   A desperate move by baseball owners to retain control over player signings may have put the settlement of a National Labor Relations Board charge against them in jeopardy.

2.   A lockout would affect player signings, trades and other moves.

3.   Accompanying the no-strike, no-lockout agreement in October was a moratorium on player signings and contract revisions that was due to expire at midnight Friday.

4.   John McVay is now in charge of personnel decisions and player signings.

5.   Most of the agreement deal with housekeeping dates and rules of order for the expected rush of player signings.

6.   That lockout, which came with no big-name free agents available, ceased all trades, player signings, contract negotiations and team workouts.

7.   The flurry of player signings this week gives the Mariners all they need to start the season, manager Lou Piniella said yesterday.

8.   The National Basketball Players Association, arguing that the impasse should be judged an antitrust case, got a temporary restraining order that halted all player signings.

9.   The move also prohibits player signings, which means Carr cannot go on one of his July binges that last year produced Dominique Wilkins and Pervis Ellison.

10.   The union would respond to the cap by halting all player signings for next season.