MLB Free Agency Opened Back Up Yesterday And In Classic Baseball Fashion We Got a Frenzy Of Exactly Zero Signings or Trades
Yesterday as the CBA got agreed to and the lockout ended, agents and reporters hyped up the impending free agency period as a frenzy. It would be something we've never seen before with the amount of signings and trades that filed in as spring training looms right around the corner. The mandatory report date for players is in just two days, with exhibition games starting in less than a week's time. Players and teams need to figure their shit out and they do not have a lot of time to do it. In theory there should be this made rush of moves coming in similar to what you see with the NFL and NBA.
As the lockout officially ended at 6:27 PM I think I speak for a lot of baseball fans out there when I say I expected immediate chaos. I mean do you really expect me to believe these GMs weren't tampering this whole time? No one made trades under the table or reached out to players locking up handshake agreements? No one? Cowards.
Two hours in we still had nothing but this Morosi tweet signaling things were popping off
I was prepared for a late night with trades and signings coming in left and right. If this was the NBA or NFL we would have had an all-time night in my mind. With baseball? Either these GMs all followed the rules during the lockout like losers, or they were told to play it cool for a little bit to not make it seem too obvious. Either way, we have nothing as of Friday morning with all these big free agents still without homes. Lame.
The free agent list consists of names like Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman, Kris Bryant, Nick Castellanos, Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Rodón, Michael Conforto Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, Trevor Story, Japanese product Seiya Suzuki, and others. And that doesn't even account for those on the trade block a.k.a everyone on the Oakland A's among many others.
So far all we have are these rumors
The Cubs have a ton of money to spend and Correa is seeking a record breaking deal. I was wondering for a bit who was going to pay him and had the Marlins picked as a prime target for a while until it came out they don't want to spend at all (hence Jeter leaving). I could definitely see Correa rocking a Cubs uniform this year.
We've got Heyman pushing for Bryant to Philly. Now Heyman is a notorious Scott Boras mouthpiece so take this with a grain of salt if you will. Harper and Bryant are boys and he does fill a need with them.
The Yankees are in on Freddie Freeman as they look to sure up first base for the foreseeable future. From what Yankees insider Jack Curry said yesterday it looks like NYY is going with a stop gap SS for 2022 with prized prospect Anthony Volpe taking over the next season. Going cheap on SS would allow them to splurge on first base and there's not many better than Freddie. Matt Olsen would be awesome, but it appears Oakland's asking price is sky high for a trade. Freeman would only cost money, but likely a 6 year deal for the 32 year old. Freeman checks all the boxes for what the Yankees need in a star: lefty bat who hits for high contact and power, gets on base, fields at a gold glove level, and is strong in the clubhouse. The way I see it he's between the Braves, Dodgers, and Yankees so we shall see.
Those are the only rumors out there at the moment. I feel like once the first big move hits the airwaves then everything will start flying like crazy. Hold onto your butts.