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Joseph Zucker is the featured Columnist IV of MLB.
Ken Murray is a sportswire.
Business around MLB came to a halt after team owners locked the players out. The extent of the shutdown is not ideal for some players.
Lucas Giolito and Charlie Morton, pitchers for the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves, respectively, lamented to Jake Mintz of Fox Sports how they can't speak with their coaches.
Giolito has known the pitching coach of the White Sox since he was a teenager.
He said that he is a very close friend of his. I was at his wedding. I think it's weird that he's not allowed to talk to me or any of the other guys because of the Lockout.
Morton is in a tough spot as he continues his recovery from a broken fibula.
Nothing would happen to me. I wouldn't get in trouble for reaching out, but I have gotten the sense they're being told to not communicate with us. I am pretty sure I was told I couldn't mail my X-ray disk to the Braves. We are working toward the same goal, so it is disappointing to me. I like talking to them.
The benefits of the MLB Players Association developing partnerships outside of MLB so that they can rehabilitate from Tommy John surgery without being contacted by the Yankees was emphasized by the New York Yankees relief pitcher.
After the previous collective bargaining agreement expired, team owners decided to lock out the players.
MLB.com has gone further than just freezing normal off-season business by removing player photos and online content.
Jesse Rogers explained that any contact between a team and a player on its 40-man roster was forbidden.
The blanket ban is understandable because MLB and the MLBPA have chosen their own representatives to handle the matter. Talks that happen outside of that group could be problematic.
There seems to be little harm in allowing players and their coaches to talk to each other on a daily basis.
The lack of expectation for a resolution will only make the situation worse for Giolito, Morton and others.
