Machado was the Padres' second big addition in free agency in consecutive years along with HosmerGETTY IMAGES
The Padres are in "one of baseball's mid-sized markets and are not usual big spenders," but the team has "scored points" with MLBPA Exec Dir Tony Clark two years in a row by signing 1B Eric Hosmer and 3B Manny Machado to rich free-agent contracts, according to Kevin Acee of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. With the Padres landing Machado after another slow winter, several of the "usual big spenders skipped the pursuit of big names purportedly to stay under the luxury tax threshold." The "escalation of the luxury tax" came about in the CBA negotiated in '17, and the man at the "fore of the owner's efforts in that labor tussle" was Padres Exec Chair Ron Fowler. Meanwhile, Clark was "less thrilled with the practice" of teams stocking their rosters with a "majority of young players making the minimum salary or close to it." He said, "We believe there is value to players receiving something closer to what their value is" (SANDIEGOUNIONTRIBUNE.com, 3/3).
ONLY THEMSELVES TO BLAME? In Chicago, Barry Rozner reported MLB players are "unhappy" with the slow offseason, and their agents are "telling them to voice their displeasure with as much noise and frequency as possible." Rozner: "Problem is, it's not collusion." It is owners and execs "trying to avoid the competitive balance tax, a tax the players union should have never agreed to in the first place and a tax that is becoming more punitive and stifling each time the players allow the commissioner to increase the penalties." The players "gave away too much in the last couple CBAs and as a group they're now paying the price, as even the very rich teams are doing all they can to reset the tax and avoid repeater penalties." Avoiding "absurd penalties is not collusion," it is "merely sanity run amok" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 3/3).
