Commissioner Rob Manfred offered a different view of the use of a lockout:

Major League Baseball owners have not yet decided to lock out players if there is no new labor deal after the Dec. 1 expiration of the current one, commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday, but he highlighted the folly of not doing so in 1994 that led to a crippling strike and added that “an offseason lockout that moves the process forward is different than a labor dispute that costs games.”

“I don’t think ’94 worked out too great for anybody,” Manfred told reporters as the quarterly owners meetings concluded. “I think we need to look at other sports. The pattern has become to control the timing of the labor dispute and try to minimize the prospect of actual disruption of the season. That’s what it’s about. It’s avoiding doing damage to the season.”

ESPN.com

Manfred also went on tout his track record of getting deals done, and talk about other issues in the game such as rule and equipment changes.

I’m still betting on a deal without a lockout.