MLB Lays Out Lockout Plans in New Rumors, Includes No Contact with Players, Names Removed from Sites

The MLB playoffs have taken center stage in October, but there is still a potential lockout looming.

And the league is reportedly taking steps to prepare.

Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported Wednesday that Dan Halem, who is second-in-command to commissioner Rob Manfred, shared a confidential, 34-page memo with team owners and high-ranking executives that detailed what should happen if there is a lockout.

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Some parts are intuitive, such as the call for no business between MLB players on 40-man rosters and teams while there is a work stoppage. That means there will be no new trades or signings like there would be during a normal offseason.

What's more, team officials must try to avoid player interactions "to the greatest extent possible," per Harlem.

They can still be "cordial" should they run into a player in public, but they cannot talk business even if they attend a player's wedding. The guidance even goes as far as to tell teams to avoid sending holiday cards to players during a work stoppage.

Notably, the league will not stop players from playing in other professional leagues in Japan or elsewhere, although Harlem stressed the focus is on avoiding a lockout entirely.

"Our commitment has been and remains to exhaust every realistic option to achieve our goal of reaching an agreement with the Players Association," he wrote. "However, clubs need to be prepared for the possibility that an agreement will not be reached by then and the clubs are left with no realistic alternative but to implement a lockout of major league players."

Fans missing baseball won't even be able to turn to official team and league websites if there is a lockout, as player images and videos must be "scrubbed" just like they were during the 2021-22 lockout.

However, teams can still sell merchandise with the players' names and images since the right to do so comes from outside business arrangements rather than the collective bargaining agreement.

There will inevitably be some communication between teams and agents since the latter represent minor league players as well, but the memo stressed that "the scope of any agent communications must be monitored and strictly controlled" so there are no discussions regarding players on the 40-man roster.

For now, the focus remains on coming to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement.

But the preparations have already started for a lockout, and they are quite detailed.