PHILADELPHIA — The MLB lockout is here.
While fans and players are facing an uncertain future at this moment, one thing is clear:
The Philadelphia Phillies were able to make two signings before the transactions freeze that comes with the lockout.
Locked On Phillies host Dan Wilson broke down what those signings mean for the team, what the MLB lockout might look like for fans, and what moves the Phillies may try to make once a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is reached.
Here is an excerpt of that interview:
CALE AHEARN: You mentioned the lockout. What do you thinks fans might see? What do you think the lockout is going to look like to fans for however long?
DAN WILSON: I think we see a few months of stalemate. I think there are a number of things that the players want, the owners don't want, and vice versa.
This is the first Major League Baseball lockout of my lifetime. We've seen it in the NFL, we've seen it in the NBA, we've seen it in the NHL.
But, in my lifetime, we have not seen a baseball lockout to the point where the game is threatened in the way it is right now.
Now, the Player's union -- obviously very strong, some call it the strongest in sports, one of the strongest worker's unions in the world I guess you could say. Look -- they're not going to back down anytime soon.
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Every sense I get, every insider you read or every live TV hit you see -- I get the idea that these two sides are in it for the long haul.
Probably cruise through December, cruise through January.
February -- maybe a sense of urgency comes back. That's when Pitchers & Catchers would begin to happen, and players would still not be talking to their teams.
Suddenly, everyone's looking around and saying, "Hey we should be reporting to Florida" or wherever their Spring Training site is, let's try and heighten talks...
I would say that the real deadline would be February or early March.
CA: What do you think of the Phillies signings of Corey Knebel and Johan Camargo?
DW: I like Camargo as a bench bat.
He has certainly spent some time in the National League East with the Braves. We've seen him play a bunch.
I thought it was a good, kind of under-the-radar signing, if you will.
Knebel -- glad they were able to add him so they were able to get something.
He kind of fills that Hector Neris role. He's a guy who has been a closer in the Majors before.
[Knebel] has a good chunk of his career where he's had a lot of success.
The Phillies need a number of guys like that.
I don't think that can be it in terms of addressing your bullpen.
Certainly, there are guys still out there, like the Kenley Jansen's of the world and the possibility of a Craig Kimbrel trade still exists...
So, I would still like to see them address this bullpen.
You can watch the full interview in the clip above.