Slow Free Agent Market Clouds Future Of Many Solid Players

Dozens of decent ballplayers could be unemployed soon, thanks to a lethal combination of greedy agents, publication of signed contract details, and teams seeking a return to financial responsibility.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Baseball Free Agency.

With pitchers and catchers due to report in less than a month, more than 150 players who were in the major leagues last year remain without a team.

Only 60-70 of those will eventually find work, according to Jon Heyman’s “Inside MLB” column in The New York Post on Friday.

Alonso Awaits

One of the Great Unsigned is four-time All-Star Pete Alonso, who has spent the last six seasons playing first base for the New York Mets. He rejected a seven-year, $158 million contract extension in 2023, Joel Sherman of The Post reported, and sat on his hands while fellow first basemen Christian Walker, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Santana, and Josh Bell all signed elsewhere – shrinking Alonso’s market.

Like Alonso, sluggers Alex Bregman, Anthony Santander, and Jurickson Profar are demanding contracts longer in years and dollars than anyone is willing to provide – at least so far.

Bregman’s old team, the Houston Astros, offered him six years for $156 million. But he held out for more, convincing the team to fill its third-base void with Issac Paredes, acquired in a trade that sent Kyle Tucker to the Cubs.

Even the Atlanta Braves, desperate for both outfield help and better power production, have not signed anyone of significance, save for two ex-Marlins (Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz) not likely to step into their lineup.

More than a half-dozen teams have not signed anyone as they seek to reduce payroll and avoid paying a luxury tax. Those teams, notably outside the New York and Los Angeles big-market orbit, seem content to rely on rookies paid at the 2025 minimum of $760,000.

One of the biggest problems is publication of contract details whenever a marquis player signs.

Soto’s Windfall

Not only did the Mets gave Juan Soto a record 15-year, $765 million deal but the Yankees, who had hoped to retain the outfielder, used their unspent Soto dollars to lavish an eight-year, $218 million deal on Max Fried. No other left-handed starter has ever received more.

Every time a deal’s details are published, the asking prices of unsigned players jumps.

Alonso, for example, has compared himself to Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson, far better first basemen on both sides of the ball.

And how many players rate themselves as half-as-good as Soto and therefore worth half his haul?

Heyman writes that all but six of the 30 teams have cut payroll, with the average reduction reaching $35 million.

Scott Boras, the California-based super-agent known for driving a hard bargain, is also known for delaying tactics that can keep star players dangling long after spring training starts.

That’s what he did in 2019, when Bryce Harper signed a 10-year, $330 million deal with Philadelphia after the start of spring training in March, and again last winter, when four of his clients signed late, got far less than they had hoped, and delivered little return on investment for signing teams.

The ‘Boras Four’

The “Boras Four” were Jordan Montgomery, who signed with Arizona; Blake Snell, who joined the Giants with a contract that contained an opt-out after one year; Matt Chapman, a slick-fielding third baseman who also signed with San Francisco; and Cody Bellinger, who signed an extension with the Cubs, stayed a year, and has since been traded to the Yankees.

Since Major League Baseball has no signing deadline, Boras has been able to convince his players to hold out – just as players once did in the days of one-year contracts that preceded the 1976 advent of free agency.

That may be a difficult strategy, especially for those who fail to find new homes or are forced to accept pay cuts because they waited too long.

Heyman says a virtual All-Star team of relievers remains available, citing Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez, Kirby Yates, A.J. Minter, and David Robertson, among others. Also available are three-time Cy Young Award winners Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, along with fellow starters Jack Flaherty, Jose Quintana, and Nick Pivetta.

Roster Resource reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers lead the majors in payroll at $351 million, followed by Philadelphia ($288 million) and the two New York clubs (Mets at $287 million and Yankees at $284 million).

The same site also reveals that a half-dozen teams pay their players less than $100 million: Cleveland, Pittsburgh, the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay, Miami, and the transitioning Athletics.

With so many players in limbo and so much at stake, Heyman concludes that “The wait can be unbearable.”

That’s true for players, managers, media members, and certainly for baseball fans everywhere.

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.