The holiday weekend alone saw third baseman Rio Ruiz, a veteran of parts of six big-league seasons, and Chris Gittens, who appeared in 16 games with the New York Yankees, sign with Asian league teams. They join a growing list of departees that includes Yasiel Puig, Freddy Galvis, Ivan Nova, and so on. Former Pirates top prospect Gregory Polanco was also reportedly close to a deal in Japan. It’s enough to make a casual observer wonder: is there an exodus underway, and could even bigger names flock overseas if MLB’s lockout endures into the spring?

“I’m actually not sure that is the case,” an Asian league scout told CBS Sports when asked if players seemed more willing to move to Japan or South Korea. “I’d like it to be, I thought it might be, but it looks a little ‘business as usual’ to me.”

To the scout’s point, the most notable players heading to Asia have had extenuating circumstances surrounding their exits. Puig, for example, had trouble landing a MLB contract even before he settled a civil lawsuit alleging he had sexually assaulted a woman. Galvis, meanwhile, signed a contract that could pay him up to $6 million over two seasons, a fair amount more than he would’ve received in the majors. As for Polanco … well, even MLB front-office types aren’t sure how to explain that one.

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball’s owners voted to lock out the players, bringing the league’s offseason to a halt. Just because MLB is on ice until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement can be ratified by both sides doesn’t mean other leagues around the world are paused.

To wit, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced on Friday that veteran starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka will return to the club for the 2022 season, according to Yahoo! Japan.

Tanaka, 33 years old, is best known to American audiences for the seven seasons he spent as a member of the New York Yankees rotation. Prior to signing a seven-year contract with the Yankees worth $155 million ahead of the 2014 season, he had spent seven years as a member of Rakuten’s roster.