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We’ve already covered the much-discussed rules changes at the MLB level relating to pace of play. That is certainly the most pertinent recent development in the rules arena, which has emerged as a point of no little controversy between the league and player’s union.

Today, though, the minor-league rule book received some changes of its own, as MLB.com’s Matt Kelly was among those to report, with some notable differences. While these regulations obviously won’t be seen in major-league games, they presumably could be considered for the game’s highest level in the future.

Mound visits will now be limited in the minors, much as is set to occur at the MLB level. The already-existing pitch clocks in the upper minors will be sped up. That, perhaps, is the next frontier for the majors, though the clock is not slated to be implemented there in 2018.

What has raised the most eyebrows, surely, is a rather notable change in extra innings. In a measure that’s sure both to shorten contests and engender consternation among purists, teams will start each inning with a baserunner on second from the tenth frame on. (The runner will be the player that occupies the spot in the order prior to the one that’s due to lead off the inning.) This procedure was utilized with less-than-enthusiastic reviews at the most recent World Baseball Classic.

Clearly, there’s more justification for utilizing this sort of procedure in the minors, where development is still the primary purpose. And it’s far from clear whether there’s any real inclination to pursue such a game-altering approach in the majors. Still, it’s quite a modification and one that’s sure to impact minor-league games across the country in the coming season.

NFL free agency doesn’t officially begin until Wednesday, but the league’s top free agents are already negotiating with teams and lining up new deals. Our sister site Pro Football Rumors has all the latest breaking news and rumors to keep you up to date.

Already, some of this year’s marquee free agents are primed to change teams. Prized quarterback Kirk Cousins is reportedly on the verge of an unprecedented fully guaranteed three-year contract with the Vikings, leaving the Jets and Cardinals to scramble for other options. Minnesota’s own standout quarterback, Case Keenum, has agreed to join the Broncos. The Bears, meanwhile, are adding this year’s top wide receiver in Allen Robinson, as well as No. 1 free agent tight end Trey Burton. Sammy Watkins, an accomplished receiver in his own right, is headed to the Chiefs.

And that’s not all. Tons of names on PFR’s list of 2018’s top 50 free agents remain on the market! To keeps tabs on all the latest NFL offseason news and rumors, be sure to visit Pro Football Rumors and follow along on Twitter @PFRumors.

While there are four seasons to go before a new collective bargaining agreement needs to be worked out, Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post says that’s sooner than it may seem. He discusses the matter with several players and provides another worthwhile perspective on a story that isn’t going away any time soon. Those interested in that topic will also want to check out recent articles from Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times and Billy Witz of the New York Times on the MLBPA Spring Training camp, both of which feature chats with some notable players and union chief Tony Clark.

Here are some other pieces worth a look on topics of broader interest:

• The recent MLBPA grievance action may be about broader issues on some level, but in substance is tied to the use of revenue-sharing funds. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper explains, the spending of those dollars is increasingly cabined in light of changes to the CBA rules — including stricter definitions of permissible uses as well as the reduction of what can be doled out to amateur players.
• Elsewhere at BA, Cooper also discusses a new five-a-side baseball concept that has been proposed as a means of engaging youngsters in the sport. And while we’re still a ways off from the 2018 draft, it’s prime time for amateur players looking to firm up their standing. The Baseball America team has issued an updated version of its top-300 draft board.
• The increasing propensity of baseballs to leave the yard during MLB contests has certainly been documented in many quarters. And plenty of analysis has been dedicated to understanding why. Rob Arthur and Tim Dix of FiveThirtyEight helpfully round up some of the work on the topic and add to it by presenting the results of an x-ray analysis and core sample. You’ll need to read the post in its entirety, but the net of it is an identification of a reduced weight that, along with increased bounce off the bat and other changes, helps explain the surge in the long ball.
• Comings and goings between the majors and the Korea Baseball Organization are of greater and greater relevance. There’s also plenty of intrigue for players who are established and intend to stay in the KBO. Writing for Fangraphs, Sung Min Kim has an interesting look at the experiences of newly-knuckleballing southpaw Ryan Feierabend.

The 2018 NHL Trade Deadline is today at 2pm CT, and our sister site Pro Hockey Rumors will be busy bringing you breaking news and analysis. Make sure to jump into the conversation during their special live chat, or just follow along with all the trade talk throughout the day. Will Erik Karlsson actually be traded today? Do the New York Rangers continue their fire sale and send Ryan McDonagh to a contender? Is Evander Kane going to land a big package for the Buffalo Sabres?

Visit Pro Hockey Rumors and be sure to follow on Twitter @prohockeyrumors.

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2:05pm: The union has issued a statement regarding a potential spring boycott, saying (via Rosenthal): “Recent press reports have erroneously suggested that the Players Association has threatened a ‘boycott’ of spring training. Those reports are false. No such threat has been made, nor has the union recommended such a course of action.”

1:35pm: Backing up an earlier report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Buster Olney of ESPN tweets that, as a result of the lack of activity in free agency, players discussed boycotting spring training during a conference call last week. However, “it is not currently an option under any serious consideration,” he hears.

Olney delves further into the players’ growing dissatisfaction in a piece suggesting 12 questions they should ask their leader, Tony Clark. The MLBPA executive director and a few agents have voiced their displeasure with the slow offseason this week, but other representatives only saw those as empty threats.

“Short-sighted,” one agent told Olney. “Impetuous,” said another.

Olney goes on to express skepticism that MLB teams are colluding against free agents, pointing out that several relievers and Lorenzo Cain have done quite well on the market. He also notes that big offers are on the table for Eric Hosmer and Yu Darvish. The players seem to think something sinister is at play on the owners’ part, thus leading to the talk of a spring boycott, but Olney relays that there are differing opinions. In fact, there are some players and agents who think holding out from camp “would lead to another disaster,” he writes.

Commissioner Rob Manfred himself addressed this year’s inactive market earlier this week, saying (via Jerry Crasnick of ESPN): “Every [free-agent] market is different. There’s different players, different quality of players, different GMs, different decisions, a new basic agreement, different agents who had particular prominence in a particular market in terms of who they represent. Those factors, and probably others that I can’t tick off the top of my head, have combined to produce a particular market this year. Just like there’s been some markets where the lid got blown off in terms of player salary growth, occasionally you’re going to have some that are not quite as robust.”

There are indeed several potential factors at play; one, according to Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins (via Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports), is that “teams are valuing players in a similar way.” Atkins added that “the aging curve has potentially been overcompensated in the past. That seems to be correcting a bit.”

Beyond that, Passan mentions that there are fewer teams than usual chasing free agents because as many as a dozen are either “tanking, not competing or crying poor.” The $197MM competitive balance tax threshold, which the union agreed to when it negotiated the current collective bargaining agreement a year ago, has also contributed to the players’ problems because it has helped prevent normally big-spending teams such as the Dodgers, Yankees and Giants from participating in free agency.

Still, top-tier free agents like Hosmer, Darvish and J.D. Martinez will eventually “get paid,” a league official told Passan. But that same official is unsure of the futures of mid- to lower-tier free agents, saying that “even if you took away the CBT changes, most of these guys wouldn’t have jobs,” in part because “there are a lot of smart GMs, and they aren’t gonna overpay guys.”

Unfortunately for the players, there’s concern that what’s happening this offseason may repeat itself on a bigger scale next year, when free agency could feature the likes of Clayton Kershaw, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon, Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel, among other household names. Overall, the 2018-19 class may be a bloated group of players if some of this winter’s stragglers are unable to find multiyear contracts, Passan observes. The premier players available should fare well, especially considering teams avoiding the CBT this year may not have the same motivation next winter, but “when 85 percent of the money goes to 15 percent of the players, 85 percent of the players are going to hear, ‘I don’t have the money,'” an agent told Passan.

Should what we’re seeing now emerge as a new trend for free agency, it could lead to an increase in team-friendly contract extensions for young players who are fearful of encountering low interest on the market, another agent suggested to Passan.

“That scares the [expletive] out of me,” the agent said. “One of my clients a few days ago said, ‘Why do I want to go to free agency if it’s going to be like this?’ We’re losing the messaging war.”

With the CBA set to run until December 2021, the present setup is in line to last for the next few years. That may be a bleak reality for the union, though there’s hope that the players will take this opportunity to band together on important issues and truly find out whether Clark is a capable leader.

A source on the players’ side declared to Passan that “the owners have to realize they’re about to jeopardize an unbelievably good thing. If they don’t recognize it, they don’t see where this is going. Everybody’s going to be in unison. And we’re all going to walk right off the cliff together.”

They won’t walk off a cliff to a spring boycott, however, as Passan tweets that an organized strike would lead to the league filing an injunction against them. The players would then have to return to work, and it’s also possible they’d have to pay damages. Union lawyers have warned them of those consequences, Passan adds.

According to a troubling report from Rachel Bachman and Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal (subscription link), former MLB Advanced Media chief Bob Bowman was forced out of his position after multiple incidents of workplace misconduct.

Bowman left the entity in early November, not long after majority rights to a spun-off entity (BAMTech) was sold to Disney. MLB’s digital media arm has long been lauded as an industry leader that has generated massive revenues for the league and its member organizations.

The story is loaded with explosive details that could conceivably have broader ramifications within the league office. MLB Advanced Media has long been a separately operated entity with its own headquarters, though allegations against Bowman — in some cases dating back to over a decade — are said to have made their way to the commissioner’s chair.

Bowman is reported to have engaged in a variety of concerning actions during his tenure, including “propositioning female colleagues, allegedly conducting consensual relationships with subordinate coworkers and cultivating a culture of partying and heavy drinking with employees outside the office.” A few other particularly concerning episodes are detailed yet further in the report. Bowman is reported to have shoved an executive in the Red Sox ownership group this past July. MLB Advanced Media is also said to have hosted a party at the 2016 All-Star Game that included entertainment consisting of “alleged escorts.”

In comments to the Journal, current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged that an October incident — in which Bowman is said to have engaged in verbal abuse of someone within his office — represented “the culmination of a variety of issues that had gone on over a period of time” and “precipitated” a mutual decision to part ways. Bowman, meanwhile, admitted that his own “personal flaws” led to “inappropriate behavior.”

Whether there could be further repercussions is not clear at this time, but some of the allegations — especially, those involving sexual harassment and other such issues — are deeply concerning and could seemingly be of ongoing importance. More generally, the report suggests questions about the league’s priorities. Significant profits have already been logged despite the problems that evidently existed under Bowman. Most recently, it has been widely reported that each MLB club is slated to receive an approximately $50MM payout from the BAMTech sale.