Contract year performance can have a huge impact on one’s place in the free agent market, which is why you might want to keep an eye on these 5 players during the 2019 MLB Season.
Especially before the 2019 MLB season, baseball’s free agency system has seen better days, but that doesn’t mean that the prospect of becoming a free agent isn’t an exciting one.
When a player’s contract ends and they enter the open market they get to cash in on improvements they’ve made in past seasons, opening themselves up to plenty of new opportunities. The more you’ve improved the more lucrative these opportunities are, and having an impressive contract year can play a big part in putting you in the best possible situation.
With this said contract year’s aren’t entirely make it or break if affairs.
Players like Bryce Harper can have a subpar contract year and still cash in because they’re reputation has already been pretty fully solidified. It’s for this reason that players like Paul Goldschmidt and Chris Sale won’t have so much to sweat this season as far as potential future earnings go.
Other players in contract years are really counting on this coming season to prove their value and boost what they can get. These players either have yet to prove themselves as high-level talents, or they have had a perceived drop off over the past few years.
For these players, 2019 will be super important. Though their main focus will be on helping their team compete on the field it will be tough to keep their impending free agency off their minds, and it will surely become a huge part of their season.
Let’s take a look at a few of the players going into their contract year’s who can have the biggest impact on their careers by showing out during the 2019 MLB season.