Spring Training is less than a week away, and more than 100 free agents remain unsigned, including the two biggest free agent names in quite some time--Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. This is the second straight offseason that has featured a tepid market for even the top available players. And Astros ace Justin Verlander has had just about enough of it. He went off on Twitter yesterday, calling it "BS" and saying the system is "broken." And it's hard not to agree with him.
Here's the exact text of Verlander's Tweet: "100 or so free agents left unsigned. System is broken. They blame 'rebuilding' but that's BS. You're telling me you couldn't sign Bryce or Manny for 10 years and go from there? Seems like a good place to start a rebuild to me. 26-36 is a great performance window too."
Last year, J.D. Martinez was the top free agent available, and he didn't sign with the Red Sox until February 20 (even though everyone knew he was going to Boston in like December). At the time, a lot of people thought teams were simply waiting until this offseason, knowing that Harper and Machado would be available and command big contracts. But now that it's happening again, in an offseason that features two marquee, in-their-prime superstars, it illustrates a collective problem. If this is baseball's new reality, it's not a good one. Not for the players, at least.
Verlander is 100 percent right. Harper and Machado were supposed to set the market for everyone else. But we've gone from wondering whether one (or both) of them might get a 10-year, $300 million deal to wondering what they're going to end up settling for (and how late into Spring Training it'll go until they do sign). Meanwhile, everyone else has to sit around and wait, too. Because Harper and Machado are still setting the market. As a result, players like Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel and Mike Moustakas remain unsigned, as well.
Yes, Harper and Machado have received offers. The Nationals made their bid to keep Harper towards the end of last season, knowing he would turn it down. As far as we know, that's the best offer he's gotten. Machado has one offer on the table from the White Sox. And that's it. Two marquee players who would would immediately make an impact on any team. Yet nobody wants them? It doesn't make any sense!
The excuse that many teams have used is that they're "rebuilding", which is code for they're trying to keep their payroll down. Which, as Verlander said, is "BS." Because they're getting money from revenue sharing and just pocketing it instead of investing it back into their team. And, if you consider that half the teams in Major League Baseball are currently "rebuilding," that limits the selection, those franchises that are willing to spend the money and actually have the desire to win, even more.
Considering all that, and given their limited options, you can see where the system is indeed broken. The best offer they receive could very well come from one of these rebuilding teams. The whole point of free agency is giving the players the opportunity to choose where they play! So why would they want to go somewhere and play for a team that has no shot at being competitive? But yet that's what they might both have to settle for. Because no one else is stepping up to the plate!
What was seen as an anomaly last year is now viewed completely differently. The players and their agents called the owners out for collusion last year. Now that it's happening again, you've really gotta think they've got a point. For their part, teams are claiming that their decisions are based on "fiscal responsibility." As Justin Verlander said, that's BS.
This led to a heated exchange between NL MVP Christian Yelich and former Marlins President David Samson, who was notorious for shipping out stars for prospects during his time in Miami. Samson argued that, rather than complaining about a "broken system," players and their agents need to adjust to this "new reality." Yelich's response, basically, was that blaming the players for the problem isn't the solution either.
"Collusion" is defined as "a secret agreement between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair market advantage." Sure seems to me like that's what's going on. And it wouldn't be the first time either. Remember what happened to Andre Dawson in 1987?
There are only 30 teams. Which means they control market the market value. Even if a player is, in his opinion, worth a certain amount, whether or not he gets that contract is completely out of his hands. And what's to stop a team from offering said player a contract well below fair market value, knowing that his only choices are to accept it or not play at all?
If this continues, which it almost certainly will, you can bet it's going to be one of the central issues in the next CBA negotiation. Because the players are not happy about it. And rightfully so! Free agency is the one time a player is able to have any sort of say in where he plays. Not only do they feel like that right is being taken away from them, it's becoming contentious.
To be clear, we're not talking about every free agent here. There are plenty of players who've signed with new teams this offseason. But it's mostly mid-level, low-risk guys who've signed two- or three-year deals that aren't going to break the bank. There hasn't been a single mega-contract, though. Which has left the guys who deserve them sitting in limbo.
Teams are leery of those long-term big-money contracts. The Yankees pushed A-Rod into retirement with a year and a half left on his 10-year deal, and the Angels can't wait for Albert Pujols' contract to expire (which isn't until 2021). And Bryce Harper and Manny Machado have to suffer as a result.
Is there a middle ground to be found? Probably. One solution might be a salary floor. Everyone makes big deal about the luxury tax, but there's no deterrent on the other end. Teams can keep their payrolls as low as they want, and one way of doing that is shedding high-priced free agents for prospects. Small-market clubs should be required to reinvest their revenue sharing dollars into their teams. And a salary floor (say $100 million) is the best way to do that. If a team doesn't meet that minimum, they're penalized, either by losing draft picks or not receiving their revenue sharing money.
Regardless, Justin Verlander is right about one thing. The system is definitely broken. The last two Lukewarm Stove Leagues have proven that. It's not on one side or the other to fix it, though. It's on both of them. Because the owners might control the money, but they wouldn't have a product to sell if not for the players, who deserve their fair share, too.
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