FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Baseball union head Donald Fehr left open the possibility that players would agree to more stringent steroid testing.

“You have to be willing to look at things again as current situations change,” Fehr said Tuesday after meeting with the Boston Red Sox.

Asked if he would be surprised if the steroid policy was changed before the labor agreement expires in December 2006, Fehr said, “I’m not surprised about anything one way or another.”

Baseball’s steroid policy has been ridiculed by some because players are tested just twice in a one-week span each year and penalties are far below those in many other sports. Earlier this month, Fehr was chastised by congressmen over what they said was the union’s refusal to help rid the sport of steroids.

“The status quo is not acceptable,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told Fehr. “And we will have to act in some way unless the major league players’ union acts in the affirmative and rapid fashion.”

Home runs have been hit at a record pace in the past decade, and former MVPs Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti have said the use of steroids was widespread. A federal grand jury indicted Barry Bonds’ trainer on charges of illegal steroid distribution; the trainer pleaded innocent and Bonds has denied taking illegal steroids.

Fehr met with the Red Sox players for more than two hours as part of an annual spring tour.

He wouldn’t directly address comments made by Curt Schilling in which the Boston pitcher incorrectly claimed the confidentiality of testing had been violated and called for testing to be conducted by third parties – which already is done. Fehr did say any misunderstandings on that issue have been straightened out.

The union boss said he would not ask players to keep their opinions to themselves.

“We don’t have any gag orders,” Fehr said. “We believe in free speech.”

AP-ES-03-23-04 1429EST