Outside The Confines: Not a creature was stirring . . .

I think that picture is appropriate since MLB is such a Mickey Mouse operation these days. Of course, now I’m going to get in trouble with the Disney Corporation for comparing their mascot to Rob Manfred.

The big news was already covered yesterday by Al when he pointed out the owners and the Players Association aren’t even going to talk about anything substantial until January. So this lockout is going to continue for a while. It does not look like there is much of a chance that Spring Training will start on time, at least not for the major leaguers. The minor league players will still report.

The baseball news is always slow around this time of year and it’s going to be especially slow in a lockout.

• Buster Olney writes that despite the lockout, MLB front offices are still quite busy right now (ESPN+ sub. req.) and he looks at what five teams are up to right now.
• Kiley McDaniel looks at what to expect when the lockout ends and teams can sign free agents and make trades again. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Some rumors out of San Francisco as the Giants are reportedly one of the teams interested in Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki. I don’t know what the rules are about Suzuki in a lockout. I know he can’t sign a major league contract right now and I know that MLB stopped the clock on his posting deadline countdown. But I wouldn’t think there is any reason teams couldn’t still negotiate with him right now. He’s not currently a member of the union, so he’s not locked out.
• And Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper thinks that Nick Castellanos would be a good signing for San Francisco.
• Maria Torres lists one player from each American League organization who would be a good candidate to get taken in the Rule 5 Draft. (The Athletic sub. req.) That is, whenever they have the Major League Rule 5 Draft. That’s going to be a you-know-what-show.
• The Diamondbacks have added former Cubs executive Jason McLeod as a “Special Assistant” to Team Vice-President and General Manager Mike Hazen.
• The Pirates have named Andy Haines as their new hitting coach. Haines was previously the hitting coach for the Brewers.
• And sad news as longtime White Sox and Orioles executive Roland Hemond died at the age of 92. Our condolences to his family and friends.
• They don’t have a lot to be happy about in Baltimore these days, but one thing they can point to with pride is the breakout season of center fielder Cedric Mullins. Jake Mailhot examines whether Mullins’ 2021 season was a fluke or a sign of good things to come.
• And Orioles fans can be happy that catcher Adley Rutschman is number one in R.J. Anderson’s list of the top 20 prospects in baseball.
• Ken Rosenthal talks Hall of Fame voting and wonders why David Ortiz seems to be a shoo-in for Cooperstown and Sammy Sosa gets very little support. (The Athletic sub. req.) Rosenthal admits he didn’t vote for Sosa, but his reasoning is that he had ten votes, used them all and didn’t see the point in voting for Sosa, who was extremely unlikely to get elected.
• Now here’s the point where we link to mlb.com’s sad list of stories about retired players as they continue to lock union members out of even their own mentions. Anthony DiComo recollects how Pedro Martinez ended up signing with the Mets.
• Todd Zolecki has an excerpt from his biography of Roy Halladay where Zolecki explains how the Phillies traded for Halladay.
• Michael Clair lists the “coolest” baseball teams of all-time. Michael Clair is the Potsie of Cool.
• Clair also looks back at the life of Jack “Lucky” Lohrke, a major league ballplayer who “cheated death” six times before he finally passed away at the age of 90 in 2009. Five of those incidents were when he was a soldier in World War II. Only one of them was baseball-related.
• OK, enough of mlb.com’s trip through memory lane. On the baseball card front, Topps made a pretty huge error on the back of their Braves World Series cards.
• And finally, Peter Gammons has a nice story about former MVP Dick Allen, his brother Hank and the Allen family’s long history of friendship with the family of Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. (The Athletic sub. req.)

That’s all folks. End the lockout.