Morning Mound Visit: MLB isn’t trying to end the lockout

Jeff Passan | ESPN $: More than a month since the lockout began, no progress has been made toward putting an end to it. The league appears to be completely disinterested in negotiating with the player’s association at all, so the 2022 season continuing uninterrupted seems less likely by the day.

Ben Clemens | FanGraphs: Watching a ball six inches off the plate get called a strike is annoying, but seeing pitch over the heart of the plate get called a ball is downright perplexing. Umpires and catchers can both be at fault for robbing the pitcher of a sweet, sweet called strike, but how exactly does it happen?

Alex Hall | Athletics Nation: Last week, there was a rumor the Yankees were considering Matt Chapman at shortstop. While that rumor smacks of “Yankees Twitter coming up with a guy and then getting mad when he isn’t on the Yankees,” it’s sort of a running joke/crazy-enough-to-work among A’s fans. Is there any merit to the idea of shifting Chapman from third?