MLB rumors: 2017 was a really bad year for older position players

MLB rumors and rumblings. Only a handful of position players 35 and older contributed much value in 2017, continuing a five-year trend.

MLB rumors and rumblings for the free agent market has not exactly been a beehive of activity this offseason. There are plenty of good players still available even though pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about five weeks. Teams seem hesitant to pull the trigger on the remaining players, despite many of them coming off good seasons.

One reason for this reluctance to sign some of the remaining free agents could be their age. The top free agent catcher out there is Jonathan Lucroy, who will be 32 next season. The best available second baseman, Neil Walker, is also 32. One of the top two third basemen still on the market, Todd Frazier, will be 32 in February. Outfielders Lorenzo Cain, Carlos Gomez, Jarrod Dyson, Carlos Gonzalez, and Melky Cabrera will all be 32 or older in the upcoming season.

Position players in their early 30s aren’t exactly over-the-hill, but they’re approaching it. This is especially true recently. Some of the players mentioned above would like three or four-year contracts, which would push them into their mid-30s. At one time, players 35 and older were still quite productive, but there’s a downward trend for these players over the last five years.

The decreasing production of position players 35 and older makes any long-term contract for these veterans riskier than it used to be. Older players have not been as valuable as players in their 20s and early 30s, but they’ve been particularly bad recently. I used the Fangraphs leaderboards to look at the production and playing time for players 35 and older compared to their younger counterparts, and the trend is clear. Let’s dive into the data, taking a look at these MLB rumors and rumblings.