Lockout looms; GMs are slow

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Used to the often glacial pace of baseball free agency in recent winters, general managers are treating the threat of a work stoppage next month as not even a speedbump in the sport’s offseason.

While other sports launch a free agent frenzy in the first few days of their business seasons, front-line baseball free agents increasingly delay decisions until spring training approaches.

A lockout is likely when baseball’s labor contract expires Dec. 1, which would be the sport’s first work stoppage in 26 years.

“We’re going about business as usual and remaining optimistic that what we’ve seen over essentially the last three decades will hopefully continue,” Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said Tuesday.

Pretty much the exact same words were repeated by baseball operations executives of other teams, making it sound like a common talking point distributed ahead of their media availability.

Until there’s an agreement, teams can’t be sure what luxury tax levels will be in place for 2022. VERLANDER: Free agent ace Justin Verlander looked healthy and sharp at a showcase for scouts Monday, according to his former GM with the Houston Astros. James Click said at Tuesday’s general manager meetings that Verlander “looks like himself” 13 months after having Tommy John surgery.

GIANTS: President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi was voted Major League Baseball’s Executive of the Year on Monday after San Francisco topped teams with 107 wins during the regular season in voting conducted by major league clubs before the postseason.

METS: President Sandy Alderson says the biggest impediment in the club’s dragging search for a general manager isn’t his presence nor owner Steve Cohen, but the spotlight created by the New York market. “It’s a big stage and some people would just prefer to be elsewhere,” he said Tuesday.