St. Louis Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright dunks on MLB lockout rule

After MLB doesn’t allow Jason Isringhausen to attend charity event, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright dunks on their lockout rule.

During the Major League Baseball lockout, teams and players are not supposed to be in contact with one another. If they are found to have communicated, even in the smallest of ways, MLB has promised to hand down significant penalties.

And it seems to be working, as both teams and players have not had any contact since the lockout (except for the CBA negotiations). Now, it has resulted in Jason Isringhausen, the former St. Louis Cardinals closer, not being able to attend Adam Wainwright’s Big League Impact event on Feb. 6 at Boondocks Pub.

“Due to the rules surrounding the current MLB lockout, Jason Isringhausen is unable to attend our Feb. 6 event at Boondocks Pub. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Big League Impact tweeted.

Said Wainwright: “Unfortunately this is true. We thank Jason for trying. Seems silly to me. I guess they thought we were going to try and negotiate a bargaining agreement at our charity event where the money raised will feed people and provide clean water, etc.? Izzy is a stud. These rules…thumbs down.”

Wainwright is absolutely correct. That Isringhausen can’t attend the event, which clearly will help people in need and have nothing to do with the CBA negotiations, is mind boggling. There has since been a flood of responses on Twitter supporting both Wainwright and Isringhausen, calling for MLB to make an exception and allow both to attend the event.

But given MLB’s strict rules, there is virtually no chance that they change their mind. If anything, it has raised awareness on how strict – and ridiculous – some of these rules are during the lockout. And Wainwright, who will go through with the event without Isringhausen, has every right to be upset with MLB about it.