After the past few seasons of stagnant market activity during the offseason, the amount of notable free-agent contract signings have increased for MLB players in their final year or two of their current deals. It is also a slap in the face to current free agents.
On February 26, just a day before the start of Spring Training, Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado agreed to an eight-year MLB contract extension that would keep him signed for as long as the 2026 season.
Before that, he had signed a one-year deal of $26 million in order to avoid arbitration.
Arenado’s big extension was put to paper several weeks before Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.
His signing wasn’t impactful because it was before Harper, but because of the dominoes that fell from this major extension.
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On March 19, Alex Bregman agreed to a six-year contract that would not only avoid three arbitration years but his first two free-agent years.
The very same day, Mike Trout signed his historic 12-year $430 million deal to basically say he is an Angel for life.
On March 22, Chris Sale and Paul Goldschmidt agreed to five-year extensions with their respective clubs.
In between then and now, contracts were extended for Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Ronald Acuna, and Matt Carpenter.
That brings us to the most recent notable extension of Ozzie Albies and the Atlanta Braves for seven years.
These have all been smart moves made by not just the execs, but the players too; avoiding what has been a stagnant free agent market for the past few off-seasons. Players get the years and money they want while simultaneously proving their worth to the bosses in the chairs.
However, considering all the names that have agreed to extensions, it is absurd that Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel among others are still trying to get a job two and a half weeks into the season.
All of this stems from one root issue with the current way baseball is evaluated. The new age of analytics in MLB has not only enhanced the way coaches and execs evaluate the game but the players as well.
Contracts are now being signed for what the player is expected to do in their time; not for what they have done already.
In Kimbrel’s case, a 35-year-old closer who is a multi-time all-star and lights out when called upon in the ninth is still on the market because he wants a few years of security and to still be paid at a high level.
Why would teams – let’s take the Red Sox for example – re-sign an aging Kimbrel when they can instead put faith into younger players, like current closer Matt Barnes, for a lot less money.
Then, as a result, they can spend elsewhere, like when they extended Sale and Bogaerts; Mookie Betts too, right?
Keuchel is 31-years-old and just four years removed from a Cy Young award and two from a World Series victory.
Houston decided to focus more on Verlander and Gerrit Cole to lead their rotation and fill the gaps with players already contracted like Colin McHugh and Lance McCullers.
It is confusing and frustrating because certainly there are teams that could use both Kimbrel’s or Keuchel’s services right?
Boston has had a horrible start to the year but a lot of the blame has been on the recently extended Sale (ironic).
Houston is playing like Houston and their rotation has been pretty solid to start the year.
But there are teams like Tampa Bay who are “bullpenning” every fifth game when they could just sign Keuchel to an already dominant rotation.
Or if you’re gonna bullpen, sign Kimbrel and add him to the mix.
The Phillies have had poor pitching after their hot start, and the bullpen has collapsed in recent games against the Nationals. Maybe Kimbrel gets added and becomes an imposing threat.
The Padres do have a nice thing going but their rotation is young so maybe a veteran ace like Keuchel could truly turn them into a contender?
Focusing on the future is great, and its part of the developing game that is MLB, but it hurts the legacies of players looking for their last ride so to speak. At this rate, players may be retiring sooner than they want to, like Peter Moylan for example.
Whether you want to blame the current collective bargaining agreement or not, investment protection has become the new norm, and it is shown in every penny of every extension.