The ongoing labor dispute between Major League Baseball and the players association has taken much of the fun out of this year’s offseason, as player movement has ground to a halt since the lockout started. One of the casualties was the Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft, which was scheduled to take place on the last day of the annual Winter Meetings on Dec. 9 but was postponed indefinitely.
According to Baseball America, the Major League portion of the Rule 5 draft had taken place every year, without interruption, since 1920. Even previous work stoppages failed to torpedo the draft, so that might be a clue that a draft will eventually take place in 2022.