The Thanksgiving leftovers are still in the fridge, and Max Scherzer is already on his way to the Mets. That alone proves that the baseball off-season, which tends to unfold at a plodding pace, has come alive.
But is this a blizzard of spending, or merely a flurry? Is free agency now a winter wonderland for players, or is it barely snowing at all? Either way, the forecast calls for a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires Wednesday at midnight, Eastern time.
It would be the first work stoppage since August 1994, when the owners baited the players into a strike that canceled the World Series.