Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced that due to the owners lockout the major league portion of the Rule 5 Draft scheduled for December 9th will be cancelled. The minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft in which teams can draft unprotected AA players and put them on their AAA rosters will go on as scheduled.
It was also announced the even if the MLB lockout extends into the regular season, the minor league seasons will go on as scheduled. Minor league players on the MLB 40-man roster will be expected to stand with the MLB players and not play in minor league games.
In the event of the lockout lasting into the regular season cancelling MLB games, we could see nationally televised minor league games. The minor league season is scheduled to begin on April 8th.
Manfred is hopeful that the two sides can reach an agreement before any regular season games are affected. He also fully understands the ramifications of the lockout lasting into the season.
"It's not a good thing for the sport. It's not something that we undertake lightly," Manfred said. "We understand it's bad for our business. We took it out of a desire to drive the process forward to an agreement now."
No new meetings are currently scheduled to resume talks with the players union.
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