When The Lockout's Over

With February report dates jeopardized, players' arrivals at team facilities could be met with additional delays

Welcome to Warning Track Power, a weekly newsletter of baseball stories and analysis grounded in front office and scouting experiences and the personalities encountered along the way.

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers opened the 2014 MLB regular season at the Sydney Cricket Grounds, 19 hours ahead of the Cactus League clock and nine calendar days before traditional Opening Day.

The D-backs lost both games in Australia. Looking back on it, hopes of a winning season were over well before first pitch.

In mid-March of that spring, 2013 All-Star Patrick Corbin suffered a torn UCL and underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery. That injury was the first in a long list of things to go wrong that year.

Internally, we wondered whether the overseas opener negatively impacted Corbin’s preparation for the season. Was the accelerated pace at which he geared up for a March 22 start responsible for — or at least related to — his injured elbow? Additionally, what more could we have done to create an environment in which Corbin could have safely built up his stamina to be ready two starts shy of a full Spring Training? (I can’t help but believe that, in the same scenario now, both teams would distribute those Opening Day innings among several relievers.)

I’ve been thinking about Corbin lately as we’ve all watched the NBA, NFL, and NHL stumble while trying to keep their seasons moving forward in the face of COVID’s resurgence.

Baseball, meanwhile, has gotten no closer to a return to the field.

So far, there’s been no apparent progress between MLB and the Players Association. It’s been reported that no substantive talks will begin until January.

Artificial deadlines have proven very effective in baseball negotiations. Most recently, hundreds of millions of dollars were committed to free agents in advance of the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on December 1.

And when it comes to signing draft picks, historically, teams and many of their players agree to terms hours or minutes before the signing deadline.

The ticking clock, though (generally) not a part of baseball, certainly has its place in the game.

I worry about what happens when baseball finally does return. Will both parties at the bargaining table spend the next couple months haggling and posturing without considering a safe and effective return-to-work policy? (When did I become the HR department?)

The NHL recently began its planned Christmas break two days early, and the NFL just played two games on Tuesday. It doesn’t take an epidemiologist to explain that the major sports are in trouble.

Prior to the MLB lockout, teams created personalized plans for players to follow because direct contact between the two parties is forbidden. An industry that has adopted individually tailored exercise and nutrition programs now finds its players separated from trainers and coaches.

The physical wellness of players is compromised by the lockout.

If a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is achieved before late January, Spring Training report dates should remain unaffected. But as the lockout creeps towards February, the season’s timeline will be impacted — and compacted.

During the very possible rush to bring players into camp, where might the COVID protocols break down — or not exist? How will teams handle pitchers’ innings in April in light of a shortened and/or less supervised offseason, and how might temporary rules — like the seven-inning doubleheaders — be created to protect players?

So much emphasis is placed on the marginal gains achieved through analytics; here’s a chance for a team to claim an advantage by better handling the post-lockout intake and conditioning of its players. Like a batter’s jump out of the box or a baserunner’s first step on a stolen base attempt, it can mean the difference in being safe or out.

You can’t win a World Series in March, but you can certainly lose one.

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