How Should We Feel About Free Agents?
If you’ve been listening to “Unraveling the Red Sox” for the past few weeks, or any of the other weekly Podcasts on Top Fan Rivalry, a topic that has been discussed quite a bit is that a lot of the big name free agents have yet to sign, or have only very recently signed contracts. What are some of the reasons this is happening? Let’s lay out a few details and then decide if this is a good thing for the game as fans.
Players want to get paid! And not just the players, but a lot of the time their agents do as well. The goal of any professional sports contract is to come to an agreement that, for the player, will yield the most dollars for the most years. This is kind of an obvious one, they play the game to make money.
But is the gap between agents and owners becoming increasingly widened by these negotiations? It seems like every season someone is becoming ‘The Highest Paid Player” in history. Historically are these contracts panning out? Are owners seeing the return on their investment for these players? Honestly, not usually.
Team ownership groups are starting to get wise to the tactics of agents like Scott Boras and other high profile agents who will convince the players they represent to not agree to a contract unless they are resetting the market.
So this ends up causing longer than normal hold outs by top tier talent. Teams have to fill their rosters in other ways and these players are not ready to go for opening day.
In my opinion, there is no reason for names like Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman, JD Martinez and a host of other impact players to still be on the market with Spring Training, officially, just around the corner.
So what happens in the meantime? Teams are filling their rosters with unknown or little known players. General Managers need to put a roster together and get a team on the field. So we start to hear about players who you may have never heard of before. The talking heads all over the radio (especially here in Boston) and on Four Letter Networks are proclaiming things like ‘Who are these guys?’ and ‘Why can’t we sign players like…’ And while I certainly understand the reason those questions are being asked, my question is ‘What can the guys we have do?’
How do players earn that household recognition and Superstar status? By getting to play the game! So if they’re good enough to actually be put on a ball field on a Major League roster, don’t they deserve the opportunity to show what they got? Especially if there are players that won’t suit up unless they are earning X amount of dollars that only in their minds do they deserve. I agree with Owners and General Managers that they can find another way! Aaron Judge wasn’t a household name around the league until he broke out during his rookie season in 2017 and there are just as many stories like his as there are about highly touted, can’t miss, prospects that never made it!
The same can be said for signing those serviceable major leaguers who aren’t over priced superstars and just want to play the game. Speaking just of my own fandom and the Red Sox, no one was expecting the 2014 Red Sox to go anywhere. They were cobbled together with players like Jonny Gomes, Jarred Saltalamacchia and Koji Uehara. These were guys that, seemingly, were picked up off the scrap heap and what a magical season they turned in. A much more memorable team and exciting team to watch than the team that is ‘supposed to’ win. I would watch that team, or any team like it,10 out of 10 times over the one filled with high profile, big money contracts. How did the Padres do last season with their roster?
Isn’t that what we want as fans? To take a magical ride with our team. Through the ups and downs knowing that the players on the field are wearing the uniform you love with pride. It doesn’t always work out or end with a championship, but if they want to be there it shouldn’t matter what their contract is. Players should be paid for what they can bring to a team during the contract, not what they did during their last one. And like I said early, most of the time, these contracts don’t live up to the expectation.
By Mike Carreiro