Major League Baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired on Thursday morning, which has resulted in a lockout. The CBA allows MLB and the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) to conduct business and with it expiring the owners made the unanimous decision to lock the players out.
Commissioner Rob Manfred broke the news in a letter that read, "Simply put, we believe that an offseason lockout is the best mechanism to protect the 2022 season. We hope that the lockout will jumpstart the negotiations and get us to an agreement that will allow the season to start on time."
A lockout was not necessary with the CBA expiring. The league could have done business as usual while simultaneously working out a new agreement. However, the lockout became expected as the Dec. 2 deadline approached and the two sides could not agree on a new CBA.
Many MLB players have since taken to Twitter to express their thoughts on the matter. Here are some of their tweets, many of which revolve around the league not being able to use a player's name, image or likeness during the lockout.
All photos of current players have been scrubbed from MLB.com -- even on team roster pages. In light of that, some players have changed their profile photos on social media to just a silhouette of a ballplayer.
Tyler Matzek changed his bio to: "Former Atlanta Braves #68 Player (as of now, thanks uncle Rob)," referencing Manfred.
Some Yankees players discussed recovery techniques:
This meme, shared by Andrew McCutchen, seems to sum it up for the players.
