For those hoping that the first week in January might bring some sort of movement with regards to Major League Baseball's lockout, no substantial stories of discussions or proposals have surfaced. Maybe we'll have better luck in Week Two.
In lieu of lockout progress, I'll point you to this mailbag that reporter Evan Drellich did for The Athletic at the end of the year, in which he answered a bunch of questions about different points of contention. On Monday, Dayn Perry at CBS Sports provided a look forward.
One point Drellich raised got me thinking:
Can minor-league camp start on time? — C. Trent Rosecrans
Yes, even if major-league spring training is delayed, minor league spring training can still get underway on time. The major-league teams control the timing of minor-league spring training, so it would be up to them, and there’s no obvious reason they would delay minor-league camp. Most minor-league players are not members of the MLBPA, and minor-league players don’t have a separate union of their own (but there’s a growing effort to change that).
If the spike in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant remains a real threat six to seven weeks from now, I'm curious whether this might affect the league's timetable with how teams would prefer to set up the preseason.
Last year, teams staged spring training in two parts. Major-league camps reported at the traditional time in mid-February, but the minor-league portion of spring training commenced after the big camp cleared out in order to reduce the number of bodies in spring training complexes. Minor League Baseball then had its opening days pushed back a month. What kind of impact it had in reducing reducing transmission remains to be seen, but it made sense in terms of social distancing. Minor-league teams also didn't seem to mind waiting for warmer weather and longer days, although it's hard to know whether they were just grateful for any season at all.
Normally the league would have no issue inviting minor leaguers to spring training, but if it had designs -- or at least a backup plan -- of splitting up the camps into two parts in the interest of prioritizing the MLB season, the hard-line approach could dash them.
SPARE PARTS
I'd say it's a bad move by the league to fire its most credible national reporter for issuing reality-based criticisms of the commissioner, but it's probably beneficial for baseball fans that Rosenthal didn't find a way to remain under the thumb of Rob Manfred's heavy-handed hamfists. Rosenthal still has jobs at Fox Sports and The Athletic, so he's fine.
James Fegan surveyed his readers about pain points in the White Sox roster with some editorial commentary on the outcomes. I enjoyed the way he worked in persistent reminders that the White Sox's spending has not matched their championship rhetoric, such as:
For all the history we have observing the White Sox, the budget limitations are usually countered by overcorrecting where it’s more affordable to do so: the bullpen.
We all know that the White Sox signed Kendall Graveman and re-signed Leury García. Now you can read about all the moves AL Central blogs have already wrung all content from.
You can see Graveman's sinker in one of the GIFs showing the various elements that lead to umpires missing obvious strike calls. It's the victim of an awkward stabbing attempt and drop.
Treat it as a reminder that the White Sox could use a backup catcher who gets low strike calls when the lockout ends.
Back in 2015, Brian Anderson signed a minor-league contract with the White Sox in a brief, unremarkable attempt at a comeback. I mostly remember it for calling Scott Merkin the one uncle who stayed in contact with Anderson. Anyway, with MLB.com reporters prohibited from writing about current MLBPA players, Uncle Scott is back with another report.
(Photo by Arturo Pardavila III)
