Major League Baseball (MLB) exercised its legal right and remedy guaranteed pursuant to current federal labor laws when it commenced a lockout of its players shortly after the five-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association expired at midnight on December 2.
This marks the first work stoppage in MLB since 1994-95. In a letter announcing the lockout, Commissioner Rob Manfred said,
“We are taking this step now because it accelerates the urgency for an agreement with as much runway as possible to avoid doing damage to the 2022 season.”
Without a new agreement, all activity between MLB Owners and players and transactions between players on the 40-man roster (union members) must cease. All communications between the union member players and the major league clubs will end until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached between the parties.
While the lockout prevents players from accessing team facilities — being physically “locked out” — it will also freeze all offseason business. Teams will not be able to negotiate with free agents or engage in trades with each other. The annual Winter Meetings were cancelled shortly after the lockout began.
Typical off-season roster deadlines are already being affected as the annual Rule 5 draft, continuously held since 1920—even through past labor disputes—has already been postponed indefinitely
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