Under The Age
Perhaps the best way to force more teams to employ free agents is to create more free agents. That might sound counter-intuitive, but there is a method here.
In this instance, it means that the MLBPA should focus on changing the service time rules.
These rules govern how long a player must stay tied to his organization before he can become a free agent for the first time, among other things. I used this Fangraphs article, by the way, as my primary resource.
Under the current system, young players are under team control for seven years, for all practical purposes. But one of the essential requirements for maximizing a player’s earnings in this new era is that he be no older than 28 when he reaches free agency.
By then, players are physically fully developed and entering their primes. And of utmost importance is that they are still two years this side of 30. Note that it is the owners and their GM’s who have made 30 the telling age, or perhaps finally recognized it.
Most players, however, get caught in a time trap.
They are not ready to debut with their big league clubs until they are 22-24 years old; Aaron Judge, for instance, was already 24 when he made his first appearance in 2016. However, with seven years of team control, these same players reach free agency at or very near the age of 30, when their value is already in decline.
And that declining market value has only recently been set by the owners. Right now it seems as if the owners are wagging both ends of the dog on this one.