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MLB lockout got you down?  The NBA trade deadline is less than seven hours away, and our sister site Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors on Twitter) has all the latest news and rumors for each of the league’s 30 teams!

We’ve already seen several major trades in the past week, with CJ McCollum headed to the Pelicans in a seven-player trade, and the Kings shocking the basketball world by sending rising star Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers for two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis as part of a six-player swap.

Amid a nine-game losing streak, former MVP James Harden has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with the Nets – will he be traded for disgruntled Sixers star Ben Simmons? Could a trade between the defending champion Bucks and the Celtics be brewing? Will the Pacers and Kings continue to reshape their rosters? The struggling Lakers are feeling urgency to make moves — will they be able to pull something off before 2:00pm CT?

For the latest updates on those stories and more, check out Hoops Rumors today! Last season saw a total of 24 in-season trades, including 16 on deadline day alone, and this season could be just as action-packed! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @HoopsRumors.

Major League Baseball has informed the Baseball Writers Association of America that it is planning to reopen pre-game and post-game clubhouse access to credentialed media, reports Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post (Twitter link). Notably, that course of action still remains subject to approval by the MLB Players Association.

MLB hasn’t afforded clubhouse access to credentialed media in either of the past two seasons on account of COVID-19 concerns. Clubhouse access was suspended in March 2020, with reporters generally limited to conducting interviews via phone or video chat that year. Fully-vaccinated members of the BBWAA were permitted to again meet with players and coaches on the field midway through the 2021 season, but they were not allowed entrance into the clubhouse. Tom Haudricourt tweets that clubhouse access in 2022 and beyond, if approved by the union, is likely to again encompass vaccination and masking requirements.

If the MLBPA signs off, the return of clubhouse access figures to be a welcome development for reporters. Expanding individual access to players and avoiding possible technological difficulties associated with speaking over video chat are among the potential benefits for reporters speaking with players and staff for stories. Shortly after MLB first suspended clubhouse access, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic wrote about the advantages he felt clubhouse access afforded reporters, which he opined has a trickle-down benefit for fans consuming their stories.

Tired of the MLB lockout?  The NBA trade deadline is less than 48 hours away, and our sister site Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors on Twitter) has all the latest news and rumors for each of the league’s 30 teams!

We’ve already seen two major trades today, with CJ McCollum reportedly heading to the Pelicans in a seven-player trade, and the Kings shocking the basketball world by sending rising star Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers for two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis in a six-player swap.

Amid an eight-game losing streak, former MVP James Harden has reportedly grown increasingly frustrated with the Nets – will he be traded for disgruntled Sixers star Ben Simmons? Could a trade between the defending champion Bucks and the Celtics be brewing? Will the Pacers continue to reshape their roster by dealing the league’s leader in blocked shots per game, Myles Turner? Will the Lakers be able to make moves to assist aging superstar LeBron James?

For the latest updates on those stories and more, check out Hoops Rumors today! Last season saw a total of 24 in-season trades, including 16 on deadline day alone, and this season could be just as action-packed! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @HoopsRumors.

Earlier this week, the Frontier League announced an alteration to its extra-innings format. The 15-team Frontier League is an independent circuit designated as an official partner league of Major League Baseball.

Beginning next season, the Frontier League will implement a system to ensure that marathon games don’t go into effect. The first extra inning — the tenth in regular contests, the eighth on days with scheduled seven-inning doubleheaders — will proceed according to International Tiebreaker Rules. The ITB rule involves placing a runner on second base to start the inning, as MLB has done over the past two years. The Frontier League’s rule change comes if the game remains tied after that frame, as the 11th inning (or 9th in doubleheaders) will proceed in the “Sudden Death” format.

Before the start of the inning, the manager of the home team will decide whether to play offense or defense. The offensive team will begin the inning with a free runner — the previous batter in the lineup — on first base. Picking up wherever they’re scheduled to hit in the lineup, the offensive team has three outs to score the runner. If the runner scores, the offensive team wins. If they don’t score, the defensive team wins.

In recent seasons, MLB has asked its partner leagues to experiment with rules changes it could try in the future. That isn’t the case here, though, and there’s no indication MLB is considering implementing this rule down the road. According to the Frontier League, the idea was first proposed by one of its former managers and deliberated upon by various league skippers and administrators.

As J.J. Cooper of Baseball America writes, independent leagues face outsized challenges in managing pitcher workloads compared to those facing MLB teams. Independent teams have stricter roster limits and face the possibility of losing players to affiliated ball. Without a farm system to call upon in the event of a marathon game that taxes a pitching staff, independent leagues have tried creative ways to limit length of extra-inning contests.

Last season, the Frontier League and Pioneer League broke ties with a Home Run Derby swing-off. For the Frontier League, at least, that didn’t sit well with managers. “As fan friendly as that was, it just didn’t feel right. The whole thing was decided by how good your (batting practice) thrower is,” Evansville Otters manager Andy McCauley told Cooper. “You got eight pitches. If you didn’t have a guy throwing strikes, you were in trouble. … At least now, there is some baseball strategy still involved other than just eight swings of the bat.“

We’re looking to add multiple part-time contributors to the Pro Hockey Rumors writing team. The positions pay on an hourly basis.

Applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

• Exceptional knowledge of all 32 NHL teams, with no discernible bias. We want you to be as comfortable writing about Janis Moser and Connor Dewar as you would be writing about Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.
• Knowledge of the salary cap, CBA, and transaction-related concepts.
• Strong weeknight and weekend availability, with the ability to work at least two regular shifts per week. Flexibility to work on short notice and/or on weekdays is a plus.
• Extensive writing experience, with professional experience and a background in journalism both preferred.
• Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics, and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is strongly preferred.
• Attention to detail and an ability to self-edit.
• Ability to follow PHR’s style and tone.
• Ability to analyze articles and craft intelligent, well-written posts summing up the news in a few paragraphs. We need someone who can balance creating quick copy with thoughtful analysis.
• You must be able to add value to breaking news with your own insight, numbers, or links to other relevant articles.
• Ability to use Twitter, Tweetdeck, and other relevant platforms. In general, you must be able to multi-task.

If you’re interested, email prohockeyrumorshelp@gmail.com and include the following:

• A few paragraphs to explain why you qualify and stand out.
• A description of your availability going forward.
• At least one or two writing samples. NHL-related pieces are preferred, but not mandatory.

We understand that many of those who read this have applied in the past. If you have previously submitted an application for PHR and are still interested, please submit it again. Many will apply, so unfortunately we cannot respond to every applicant.

UPDATE: The contest is now closed.  We’ll be rooting for the lockout to end as soon as possible.

You’re here on this website, waiting for some sort of news indicating the MLB lockout will soon end.  We’ve got nothing: no indication of recent talks or progress.  Transactions are frozen, so we’re left to do our best talking about what happened in November and what might happen post-lockout.

That means our free agent prediction contest is frozen too, with Scott Schum standing alone atop the leaderboard with a .433 batting average.  Scott has been able to pull off this Nap Lajoie-like feat by correctly predicting the destinations of Corey Seager, Marcus Stroman, and Starling Marte, among many others.

I thought it might be fun to make the best of a bad situation by creating a contest to predict the date on which the lockout officially ends.  Everyone who guesses correctly will receive a free one-year subscription to Trade Rumors Front Office, or a one-year extension if you already have one.

By “officially ends,” I mean the date on which a press release from MLB goes out declaring the lockout over.  If there winds up being some subjectivity on the official date, the MLBTR staff will deliberate and decide.

If you’re interested in signing up for Trade Rumors Front Office right now, click here to learn more about the benefits.

In an increasingly-rare piece of transactional news, online retailer Fanatics has reached an agreement to acquire renowned trading card company Topps Sports & Entertainment, per Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico. Topps Sports & Entertainment represents the trading card and digital collectible portion of the greater The Topps Co. enterprise. The deal is worth $500MM, according to Jared Diamond and Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal.

News of tonight’s reported deal comes in the wake of last year’s revelation that Major League Baseball and the MLBPA would not be renewing their longstanding agreement with Topps. Instead, both the league and players union pivoted and partnered with Fanatics on a long-term licensing deal, granting the online sports retailer with exclusive trading card licenses.

Though the Fanatics Trading Cards brand has yet to launch a single product, recent valuations for this portion of the Fanatics enterprise have skyrocketed. Thanks in part to renewed trading card interest by hobbyists during the past two years, a recent valuation of Fanatics Trading Cards now stands at $10.4 billion. Both the MLB and MLBA are equity holders in Fanatics’ new trading card venture, creating an ongoing revenue source for both parties.

In a piece by The Wall Street Journal, Jared Diamond and Andrew Beaton note that Fanatics’ original August deal with MLB wasn’t set to begin until after the 2025 season. Likewise, licensing deals with the NFL and NBA were also a few years from kicking in, slowing Fanatics’ push into the trading card space. Acquiring the Topps Sports & Entertainment division now, however, will allow Fanatics to accelerate its foray into this portion of the hobby market years ahead of schedule. In addition to immediate distribution rights of baseball cards, Fanatics also picks up Major League Soccer, UEFA, and Formula One licenses in the deal.

Implications of this acquisition will be far-reaching, though it most directly increases Fanatics hold on a growing industry. The Topps Company will now see business operations span only its candy and gift card divisions, barring further activity from the company’s ownership group. Sports leagues across the world are now primed to see increased revenue streams thanks to their newly cut licensing deals and equity stakes with Fanatics.

For baseball and its players union, this news looms against a still-stagnant lockout backdrop. The financial ramifications of this deal are unlikely to have any immediate impact on the state of the lockout, though it appears another party, Fanatics, now has its interests more wholly aligned with the 2022 baseball season being conducted as scheduled.

The MLB hot stove isn’t exactly isn’t exactly burning right now during the lockout, but that’ll change eventually.  While you wait, why not check out the free MLB Trade Rumors newsletter?  The newsletter is written by Cliff Corcoran, who has an extensive resume contributing to Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, Baseball Prospectus, and other outlets.  Cliff will take you through the hot stove highlights of the previous day, boiling down MLBTR’s posts into the essential stories.

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