Major League Baseball teams would prefer to see the Rule 5 draft canceled this year. 

Per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark, club executives are "in almost unanimous agreement" about canceling the event. 

The MLB Rule 5 draft has historically taken place in December, but the most recent one was postponed indefinitely in the wake of the lockout. 

Since minor leaguers aren't in the MLB Players Association, the Minor League Rule 5 draft took place on Dec. 8 with 51 players selected. 

Rosenthal and Stark noted executives cited "a number of issues" that would come with trying to stage a Rule 5 draft in March or later, including unprotected players potentially showing up in minor league camp and displaying enough improvement to get selected.