3 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

It feels very different to me.  There was a LOT more movement of players by this point last year.

I'd be ok with saying this year was an exception if we hadn't spent the last 2 offseasons complaining about how long everything was taking. 

8 minutes ago, bmags said:

The outcome is no different. Does this feel like a materially different offseason than last year? Or the year before, or before. The White Sox play free agency more than most teams so it has been more interesting, but this is just ridiculous.

And next year there are like 8 top ten short stops in free agency. How fun! Going to be great to have the entire market ice cold as we writers rationalize that we need them to sign for the rest to shake out.

It's much different. Passan wrote about it today. The top 3 free agents signed in successive night at the winter meetings last year. 

2 minutes ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

It's much different. Passan wrote about it today. The top 3 free agents signed in successive night at the winter meetings last year. 

Ok so last year was the outlier, not this year.

I will put this out there, looking at BR, including all free agent signings, there were 411 signings in the 19-20 free agency period.  By Jan 5 of last year, 191 signings had happened, with 220 still to come.  So far this year it has been 129.  That is about a 30% decline in volume, even with the larger than average number of non-tenders. 

1 minute ago, southsider2k5 said:

I will put this out there, looking at BR, including all free agent signings, there were 411 signings in the 19-20 free agency period.  By Jan 5 of last year, 191 signings had happened, with 220 still to come.  So far this year it has been 129.  That is about a 30% decline in volume, even with the larger than average number of non-tenders. 

To add to this, by this time last year some of the big names who had signed included...

Jose Abreu

Ordorizzi

Grandal

Cole Hammels

Gerritt Cole

Bumgarner

Zach Wheeler

Strausburg

Anthony Rendon

Keuchel

 

26 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I like the discussion and anticipation. People have no patience.

There's patience, and then there's multiple superstar FA's signing after spring training starts. It's a bit ridiculous.

I'd be more forgiving given the circumstances this year if there wasn't a past of this happening, even if last year there was a bit more activity earlier. And don't get started on the owners trying to squeeze every last penny out of the players and crying poor citing no fans in the stands. The NHL is able to move forward with their season and they rely on the gate more than any of the big four teams. 

How catastrophic would it be for baseball if teams just choose not to sign some of these guys? I don't even want to think of the long-term consequences it could have for the game.

1 minute ago, Orlando said:

How catastrophic would it be for baseball if teams just choose not to sign some of these guys? I don't even want to think of the long-term consequences it could have for the game.

Is that all that different from Keuchel and Kimbrel each sitting out 1/3 of the 2019 season because no one would sign them to contracts they were comfortable with until their Qualifying Offers expired?

It's not that teams are choosing not to sign guys, it's instead that teams are choosing not to sign them at the prices they would require. Unlike the NBA and NHL, no funds are being held in escrow to offset the losses MLB is taking this year, so if there's only $100 million left that teams across the league have to spend, and there's 100 players left.

21 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I will put this out there, looking at BR, including all free agent signings, there were 411 signings in the 19-20 free agency period.  By Jan 5 of last year, 191 signings had happened, with 220 still to come.  So far this year it has been 129.  That is about a 30% decline in volume, even with the larger than average number of non-tenders. 

How are you finding the dates? I'm trying to do a similar sort on Basketball-reference.com and can't. 

I do have this blog post from the NY Post linking a bunch of tweets and it looks like out of the top 32 guys that they ranked, 27 had announced contracts on June 30, 2019.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/30/2019-nba-free-agent-tracker-following-every-big-name-signing/

Just now, Balta1701 said:

How are you finding the dates? I'm trying to do a similar sort on Basketball-reference.com and can't. 

I do have this blog post from the NY Post linking a bunch of tweets and it looks like out of the top 32 guys that they ranked, 27 had announced contracts on June 30, 2019.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/30/2019-nba-free-agent-tracker-following-every-big-name-signing/

Google search got me here.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019-free-agents.shtml

32 minutes ago, Rowand44 said:

What journey is there right now?  A bunch of people arguing about whether food accounts are real or not.  Is that the journey we're enjoying?  To me it's boring as all hell.

 

People in general would be more understanding if it was just this offseason but this is the way every baseball offseason goes now.

To each his own. I enjoy the discussions. 

7 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Google search got me here.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2019-free-agents.shtml

Apparently the NBA version of free agency happens rapidly enough that they dont' bother to give you a "Sort by date" option.

29 minutes ago, Orlando said:

How catastrophic would it be for baseball if teams just choose not to sign some of these guys? I don't even want to think of the long-term consequences it could have for the game.

Adam Eaton signed very quickly and I think he or his agent was very smart.  

1 minute ago, poppysox said:

Adam Eaton signed very quickly and I think he or his agent was very smart.  

I said it earlier, if you are a fairly mediocre/average player, take the first fairly decent offer you get. They aren't going to go higher in February.

3 hours ago, maloney.adam said:

Ok so how do you want to settle it than? I’m honestly not here to gain attention but it appears that’s how I’m perceived.

Speaking for myself...it never crossed my mind that it was attention-seeking.

33 minutes ago, Orlando said:

How catastrophic would it be for baseball if teams just choose not to sign some of these guys? I don't even want to think of the long-term consequences it could have for the game.

CBA is coming, MLBPA might finally give in to a salary cap as long as it comes in with a floor.   Just too many teams are refusing to employ serviceable veteran players at this point. 

 

Wouldn’t surprise me that a team like the Astros jump into the bidding. Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. 

I ain't falling for tax differences again. Brought up every year and it never seems to matter in the end.

 

Just now, HOFHurt35 said:

Just too many teams are refusing to employ serviceable veteran players at this point. 

 

Obviously, I'm not privy to the last negotiations but the MLBPA likely did this to themselves.  Like most player unions that are led by veterans they didn't seem to look out for their young players.  So, a front office's options are to play kid they likely drafted and developed OR pay a vet 2 or 3X that amount.... easy decision.

MLB needs to AT LEAST double the pre-arb salaries.  

 

6 minutes ago, maloney.adam said:

Wouldn’t surprise me that a team like the Astros jump into the bidding. Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. 

Aren't game checks taxed at where the game is played? Only half of their game checks would get taxed at the rate of their team's state. The rest are all variable.

43 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Is that all that different from Keuchel and Kimbrel each sitting out 1/3 of the 2019 season because no one would sign them to contracts they were comfortable with until their Qualifying Offers expired?

It's not that teams are choosing not to sign guys, it's instead that teams are choosing not to sign them at the prices they would require. Unlike the NBA and NHL, no funds are being held in escrow to offset the losses MLB is taking this year, so if there's only $100 million left that teams across the league have to spend, and there's 100 players left.

Yeah, I agree but that was two players holding out for decent contracts. This has the potential to be way more damaging. 85% of free agents are available weeks before “spring training”

6 minutes ago, chw42 said:

Aren't game checks taxed at where the game is played? Only half of their game checks would get taxed at the rate of their team's state. The rest are all variable.

Yes, and these are contracts were the players are going to die with at least some of the money in the bank, so what is more important is the pub of the contract signed, years and dollars, not what the total payout actually will be.

1 minute ago, Dick Allen said:

Yes, and these are contracts were the players are going to die with at least some of the money in the bank, so what is more important is the pub of the contract signed, years and dollars, not what the total payout actually will be.

I guess it can be a deciding factor if all else was equal but I don’t know if it’s that big of a deal.

4 hours ago, bmags said:

I don't care what artificial constraints need to be put in place...but baseball has to get a better offseason. It gets worse every year.

 

27 minutes ago, YoYoIsMyHero said:

I ain't falling for tax differences again. Brought up every year and it never seems to matter in the end.

No no no, as we know, all professional athletes sign with Florida or Texas sports teams. They avoid New York and Los Angeles.