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Leagues and Governing Bodies

MLBers Grow Restless With Market; Cards' Dewitt Touts New Thinking

DeWitt (r) said the market is changing because teams are getting smarter in how they manage their payrollGETTY IMAGES

Free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado remain unsigned as another slow baseball offseason continues, and the "anger level seems to be growing" among MLBers' "rank and file," according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Owners might have the "most to lose if they don’t encourage salaries to reflect revenue growth more." If players "decide to put up a fight, it’s historically not" one that owners "can win" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1/22). Cardinals 3B Matt Carpenter: "The last offseason -- the kind of thought you left (with) was OK, well, teams are evaluating age. But when you look at the two guys that are unsigned now -- I mean, they’re 26 years old. So that can’t be the reason." But Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said MLB owners are getting "smarter." He said, "Fewer and fewer teams are unprepared for the analytical revolution that we’ve seen. ... Some of these 10-year-plus deals into a player’s late-30s just don’t pencil out. There aren’t as many teams willing to completely throw caution to the wind when they have a lot of smart people working the numbers. The market is changing." DeWitt: "We’re not shying away from commitment. ... You’ve got to pick your strategy. You’ve got to pick where you think you are and the best way to spend the money. It’s not like people are hoarding money and making a lot of money in this business" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/22).

STICKING TO THEIR GUNS: In DC, Dave Sheinin writes from the union’s perspective, the luxury tax was "never supposed to create such a drag on spending." But in the last two years the tax has "acted as a de facto salary cap, with teams increasingly resolved to staying under the threshold" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/22).

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