JUPITER, Fla. -- Prior to working out on Tuesday morning, Cardinals players held their annual players' union meeting. It's safe to say they had a little more to discuss this year than some springs.

"We basically go over what happened in the last year or so," said Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. "We talk about matters of current topical interest, answer questions on those things, and then answer questions of whatever is on anybody's mind individually. So we did all that today.

"Obviously we went through some things related to the economy, some things related to what happened in the player contract market this winter. And we talked a little bit about some of the issues that arose related to the 2003-04 testing program, which was in the news last week. And then a whole bunch of internal administrative things and all that kind of stuff."

Speaking with several reporters after the meeting, Fehr declined to go into specifics regarding his conversation with the Cardinals. However, he said that the tone of his meetings so far this spring hasn't been drastically different from previous years.

"When you get down to Spring Training, what players are virtually universally focused on is getting ready for the season or making the team," Fehr said. "And that's pretty much what they do. Obviously, just like anybody else in the country, they understand that we have economic difficulty out there. And to the extent I can answer questions about that, I certainly try and do that. There's a whole lot of experts in Washington, and they haven't invited me to be one of those yet. So I wonder what my opinion is worth in that regard. But they're no different from people in the country generally in that regard."

Fehr reiterated his opposition to any further revelation of the names of players who tested positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs in the 2003 survey testing.

"That information is confidential both by contract and by court order, and we expect and believe that those promises and those court orders will be adhered to," said Fehr.

He indicated little interest in re-opening the collective bargaining agreement for any further adjustment of the league's drug policy. Specifically asked about the possibility of blood testing for substances including human growth hormone, Fehr didn't rule it out categorically, but expressed skepticism for the viability of any such procedures at this point.

"There have been a lot of press reports and some announcements over the last four or five years that there could be a blood test developed, which would be feasible for use with human growth hormone," he said. "Every time somebody says it's on the horizon, I say the same thing, which is what our position is, which is if somebody develops a test that is commercially feasible and it's reliable and it can be validated by people other than the people trying to sell it to you -- it goes through the normal scientific process and it makes sense -- we'll certainly take a look at it. But so far there aren't any such tests."