Slow Offseason around MLB

[weams]

Quote

“I hope so,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “I’m trying, I’m trying. I hope so.

“We’re still talking to a number of teams on the trade front and some players that we’re going to sign prior to the spring, hopefully.”

 

http://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2018/01/duquette-on-negotiations-and-prospect-list-plus-other-notes.html

[bpilktree]

Ok slow is now an understatement.  We are less then 20 days until pitchers and catchers report and still almost no movement in the starting pitching market.  How long can this standoff last.  I would think most pitchers would want to know where they are planning on playing by next weekend so do we see a bunch of deals in the next week or will it continue to drag on?

[Yardball85]

16 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

Ok slow is now an understatement.  We are less then 20 days until pitchers and catchers report and still almost no movement in the starting pitching market.  How long can this standoff last.  I would think most pitchers would want to know where they are planning on playing by next weekend so do we see a bunch of deals in the next week or will it continue to drag on?

Further to this, I made a list yesterday out of shear curiosity as to the prominent free agents still unsigned as of January 23 (now 24th).  The list is astounding for this point in the offseason.

1. Jake Arietta

2. Alex Cobb

3. Yu Darvish

4. Jason Vargas

5. Andrew Cashner

6. Jaime Garcia

7. Greg Holland

8. Jonathan Lucroy

9. Eric Hosmer

10. Mike Moustakas

11. Alcidies Escobar

12. Jon Jay

13. J.D. Martinez

14. Lorenzo Cain

15. Jarrod Dyson

16. Carlos Gonzalez

And that was just off the top of my head without looking anything up.  It's unprecedented I believe.

 

[jamalshw]

If the report that a Darvish decision is coming this week is true, then that opens up the flood gates. I know we said that about Stanton and Ohtani and a cast of other traded players, but this will be the first of the prominent free agents (particularly on the pitching side) and will set the market.

[Redskins Rick]

At some point, you would think the word collusion would be a resounding boom around MLB.

[Il BuonO]

3 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

At some point, you would think the word collusion would be a resounding boom around MLB.

It has been mentioned, but shot down pretty quickly. MLB front offices have much more information and they mostly are of a mind that long term deals to aging veterans is dumb. That’s common sense, not collusion.

[Redskins Rick]

Just now, Il BuonO said:

It has been mentioned, but shot down pretty quickly. MLB front offices have much more information and they mostly are of a mind that long term deals to aging veterans is dumb. That’s common sense, not collusion.

Commen sense, and sports agents are not something that usually occurs within the same sentence.

[bpilktree]

36 minutes ago, Yardball85 said:

Further to this, I made a list yesterday out of shear curiosity as to the prominent free agents still unsigned as of January 23 (now 24th).  The list is astounding for this point in the offseason.

1. Jake Arietta

2. Alex Cobb

3. Yu Darvish

4. Jason Vargas

5. Andrew Cashner

6. Jaime Garcia

7. Greg Holland

8. Jonathan Lucroy

9. Eric Hosmer

10. Mike Moustakas

11. Alcidies Escobar

12. Jon Jay

13. J.D. Martinez

14. Lorenzo Cain

15. Jarrod Dyson

16. Carlos Gonzalez

And that was just off the top of my head without looking anything up.  It's unprecedented I believe.

 

Just looked it up and the cbs free agent tracker and the  list has 25 of the top 50 signed so far this off season.  13 of those 25 are relief pitchers that seems to be the only part moving this off season.

[Frobby]

57 minutes ago, Il BuonO said:

It has been mentioned, but shot down pretty quickly. MLB front offices have much more information and they mostly are of a mind that long term deals to aging veterans is dumb. That’s common sense, not collusion.

How did they suddenly get so brilliant this offseason?     The information about long-term deals isn’t exactly new.   

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

How did they suddenly get so brilliant this offseason?     The information about long-term deals isn’t exactly new.   

You think this trend started this offseason?

There is a reason Boras has been doing end-arounds the GMs and talking directly with owners.

[theocean]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

How did they suddenly get so brilliant this offseason?     The information about long-term deals isn’t exactly new.   

Part of the slow offseason is a lot of the big spenders are trying to get under the Luxury Tax threshold. Dodgers, Yankees, and Giants want to get under it. Tigers, who always used to spend, are rebuilding. Those are teams that really pushed the bidding for players in offseason past.

There's also no one incredibly exciting in this free agent class. Everyone has had an injury history, is old, or has question marks. I think most teams are smart enough now to look at all these big contracts that have been awful and realize that JD Martinez, for example, for six or seven years is incredibly unwise.

[mdbdotcom]

16 minutes ago, Frobby said:

How did they suddenly get so brilliant this offseason?     The information about long-term deals isn’t exactly new.   

MLB did a presentation for all owners on the risks of signing older players. Since MLB is the owners, it will be interesting to see if this schooling ends up costing the owners a collusion verdict in court.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

MLB did a presentation for all owners on the risks of signing older players. Since MLB is the owners, it will be interesting to see if this schooling ends up costing the owners a collusion verdict in court.

I don't think the MLBPA has anything near enough evidence to win a court case.

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think the MLBPA has anything near enough evidence to win a court case.

Who knows what evidence they have?     Also, I don’t think these issues are resolved in court.    I think they are resolved through arbitration.   

[mdbdotcom]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I don't think the MLBPA has anything near enough evidence to win a court case.

It won't be like in the '80s, when the teams' offers were identical for each player.