Morning Mound Visit: Major league portion of Rule 5 draft likely to take place after lockout ends

JJ Cooper of Baseball America reports that the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft is expected to take place when the lockout ends. The minor league portion will carry on as normal on Wednesday.

Ben Clemens | FanGraphs: The offseason isn’t over, but the owners hit the pause button. That makes it a good time to take stock of where each team’s payroll lies, so we can see which teams have room to spend and which teams should be contracted. Looking at you Pittsburgh and Cleveland!

Alex Hall | Athletics Nation: With Bob Melvin headed to San Diego, the Oakland A’s are in search of a manager to lead them through their impending rebuild. Among the candidates for the job are three incumbent A’s coaches Mark Kotsay, Darren Bush, and Marcus Jensen as well as Joe Espada, Matt Quatraro, and Will Venable. Espada and Quatraro are also candidates for the position with the Mets.