MLB's free-agent market took a beating with the Marlins trading Stanton to the YankeesGetty Images
This has been the “nastiest winter in a quarter century” in MLB, as there are “more than 130 free agents still unemployed with two weeks remaining before the opening of Spring Training camps,” according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY. Players are "livid" at the lack of movement. Agents are "mortified" and fans are "fuming.” Not many people would have thought that the Rockies and Brewers would be the teams that have spent "more money in the free-agent market this winter than the combined total of every other team in baseball." There are 11 teams this season who are rebuilding and it is “simply not in their best interest to win.” They can "reap the benefits of not only getting a high draft pick" but also receiving "millions more money in the draft pool” by losing. That strategy was used by the two most recent World Series champs -- the Cubs and Astros -- and it “worked so brilliantly” that more teams are copying it. The free-agent market also “took a beating” with the Marlins trading Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich, and the Pirates trading Andrew McCutchen. It is possible free agency is "different a year from now when the greatest free agent class in baseball history hits the market.” Dodgers P Kenley Jansen over the weekend suggested the possibility of players going on strike, and Nightengale notes there are “no realistic thoughts" of a work stoppage with the CBA signed through ’21. However, the "epidemic of teams trying to lose now so they can win later won’t go away ... no matter how many players sign contracts these next few weeks” (USA TODAY, 1/31). MLB Network's John Smoltz said, "You have a lot of teams going the other way, a lot of teams rebuilding and not spending money." He added many "upper-tier teams" like the Yankees and Dodgers "have spent their limit and they’re staying with that limit" ("MLB Tonight," MLB Network, 1/30).
SLOW RIDE: MLB Network’s Kevin Millar noted there are concerns "if you’re a player out there on the free agency market." Movement has "been slow, but there’s been slow free-agent markets every offseason at some point." He noted that many teams "have the analytics now that have players where they are at, and it’s hard to negotiate higher situations when a lot of teams know and feel you’re the same” (“Intentional Talk,” MLB Net, 1/29).
