Mariners Moose Tracks, 3/10/22: Isaiah Campbell, The International Draft, and Obi-Wan Kenobi

In which the owners continue to make the CBA negotiations a public performance.

Here we lie, another “deadline” in the CBA negotiations having passed. Still no word on when we will watch Major League Baseball again. I have been petitioning for Lookout Landing to become a curling site in the meantime because I am a man of the people. But it seems we will instead continue to cover this dumb sport. Should it ever be played again.

In Mariners news...

• Watch out for Isaiah Campbell this season.

Around the league...

• Major League Baseball canceled another week of regular season games, taking Opening Day to April 15th at its earliest (Jackie Robinson Day!). The two sides negotiated all day on Wednesday but the major sticking point at present is whether or not to include an international draft. It’s a non-starter for Latin-born players, but the league is adamant about including it. The two sides plan to continue negotiations today.
• Jeff Passan spoke to David Ortiz about the international draft yesterday. Ortiz provided context to what is a very complicated issue and explained why Latin-born players are so hesitant to implement it.
• Max Scherzer attempted to calm fans’ worries in light of the latest news.

• Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic expressed bewilderment at the notion that the international draft and draft pick compensation are the two issues currently holding up the sport. ($)
• In light of the cancelation of more games, Illinois senator Dick Durbin spoke forcefully against the owners and in support of ending the lockout.

• Whenever baseball returns, Nelson Cruz is going to be a part of it. He is not planning to retire before the 2022 season starts.

• Eno Sarris at The Athletic wonders if Red starter Luis Castillo can unlock a new level of performance by leaning into his sinker more. Castillo has been a popular Mariners trade target seeing as the Reds are in rebuild mode. ($)
• The staff at Prospects Live dropped their list of the top 400 amateur draft prospects.
• Alex Rodriguez is teaming up with a business partner to launch a new app that allows you to buy and trade stock shares of baseball players and sell them based on their real-life performances. Someone needs to tell these people that fantasy baseball exists.
• Forbes reports that MLB’s pending media deals with Apple TV and NBC Sports are worth a combined $115 million annually.
• The Rockies have mysteriously fired the head of their analytics department just a few months after hiring him in the first place.

Anders’ picks...

• Hello there.