Reliever Craig Kimbrel is one of the many big-name free agents still on the market GETTY IMAGES
Spring Training camps start opening next week, but there still are more than 90 "unemployed free agents," and the market freeze has "left agents furious, players exasperated, fans frustrated, with tension rising between the players and owners, threatening a work stoppage" in '21, according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY. MLBPA Senior Dir of Collective Bargaining & Legal Bruce Meyer said, “It’s bad for the players, the fans, and the game, being this close to the beginning of the season and having so many fanbases not even knowing who’s going to be on their teams." MLB argues that this has "been the new norm, saying that 45% of the free-agent class was unsigned at this time" in '15-16, and 62% a year ago. MLB Deputy Commissioner & Chief Legal Officer/Baseball Administration Dan Halem: "We would like to have players sign earlier in the offseason. Teams can announce signings and create fan interest. But in our market, there are no parameters when players need to sign by." Nightengale notes only one player, Nationals P Patrick Corbin, has signed a contract more than $68M. Just four players have "signed contracts longer than three years," and 16 teams have "yet to sign a free agent to a multi-year contract." The union projects that 12 teams will begin the '19 season with a "substantially lower payroll than a year ago, creating imbalance, lack of competitiveness, and dreary pennant races." Clubs insist that they are "smarter now with their extensive analytic studies on long-term contracts and players’ productivity past their 30th birthday" (USATODAY.com, 2/5). ESPN's Buster Olney notes most teams are being steered by metrics that "indicate that very long-term deals, those of Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera, simply do not pay off at the back end" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/6).
TIMES HAVE CHANGED: In Chicago, Paul Sullivan wrote, "If you neglected to follow the hot stove, rest assured nothing of consequence has happened since the Red Sox beat the Dodgers." It is the "second straight free-agent freeze, and fingers are being pointed in several directions." The lack of big-name signings has "managed to spoil the only thing baseball has going during the winter -- the traditional guessing game over who goes where" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 2/5). The Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw said, "They have no buzz in the offseason. This would never happen in a media-savvy league like the NBA" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 2/5). The N.Y. Times' Tyler Kepner said, "It used to be that one owner somewhere would say, 'Get me that guy. Whatever the price is, I want him, I need him.' You don't have that one crazy owner anymore and that's affecting everything." There should be "some sort of structure" to the free agency process, but the league and players "don't have that right now" ("High Heat," MLB Network, 2/4).
PLAYING CHICKEN? ESPN's Nicole Briscoe notes there is an "epic game of chicken" being played between Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, as they both "want the most money (and) neither one of them wants to be the first one to sign" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/6). ESPN's Scott Van Pelt said neither Harper nor Machado "wants to establish a market," as they are both "hoping to establish record-setting deals." Neither one wants to be the one that "goes first and then regrets what you might have left on the table." Van Pelt: "Some of this is how baseball is clearly operating. There is a justifiable fear of the $300 million deal because how many of those ever make any sense with the benefit of hindsight?" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/5).
ROCKIES COULD THROW WRENCH INTO THINGS: THE ATHLETIC's Ken Rosenthal noted the Rockies are in talks with 3B Nolan Arenado about a contract extension that could reach the neighborhood of $250M "without the benefit of competitive bidding." That could be a "potentially game-changing development, strengthening the argument for Harper and Machado to get lucrative 10-year contracts." Both could "contend they are deserving of even bigger deals, especially in competitive environments." That means a "monster deal for Arenado might only strengthen the resolve of Harper and Machado." A prolonged holdout by either or both "would be a distraction from the normal optimism of the spring and an embarrassment to the sport" (THEATHLETIC.com, 2/4). MLB Network's Greg Amsinger noted Arenado and the Rockies have a relationship that Harper could mirror with the Nationals "if he signed with them in terms of meaning something to an organization." Amsinger: "I don't think Machado would be impacted at all by Arenado getting 10 years with the Rockies" ("MLB Tonight," MLB Network, 2/5).
SIGN OF SOMETHING BIGGER: In Seattle, Larry Stone wrote what is "ominous, and should concern all fans, is the growing drumbeat of labor unrest." Under the current CBA, there "seems little doubt that the owners have managed to seize back power" from the players (SEATTLE TIMES, 2/12). ESPN's Olney noted the current relationship between the league and the players "is perhaps at its worst since the mid-1990s" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/6).
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: On Long Island, Tim Healey noted Mets Exec VP & GM Brodie Van Wagenen, who last offseason as an agent criticized the slow market, has now taken a "more diplomatic tone, suggesting the Mets are an exception because they were proactive in filling their needs." Van Wagenen said, "In the past I was concerned about the behavior overall as an industry. For us, I set out to create our own behavior and (was) not worried about what the market was going to look like." He added, "Hopefully as a sport, we can be a compelling entertainment product in all the cities we’re in. I think sports in general should be about putting the best product on the field and trying to compete every day. We’ll try to do that here" (NEWSDAY, 2/5).
