Over the last weekend, he would not comment on his own contractual status.

The question of the hour - every hour - is his contractual status.

A summary of the contractual status of the 300 players is as follows:

Dierdorf was mystified by ABC's refusal to give him an answer about his contractual status.

His contractual status also affects the number of years the Yankees can have him under reserve.

Fielder admitted that he, of course, was thinking about his contractual status beyond the expiring deal that will pay him $7.2 million this season.

Mangini will wind up with Belichick, who seems destined to coach somewhere else once his contractual status is cleared up.

"There's no place in this league for personnel under contract to make unilateral determinations as to their contractual status," Bettman said.

The draft pick is conditional on Kerr's contractual status and his performance with the Whalers.

The price teams are willing to pay in players is affected by Griffey's contractual status.