Email a copy of 'Where Does The 2015-16 Free Agent Market Stand?' to a friend
Loading ...
By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'Where Does The 2015-16 Free Agent Market Stand?' to a friend
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
hide arrows scroll to top
cmancoley
Angels swoop a trade for a SP and score Parra or Fowler
Indyjuster
Or maybe the teams are still reeling from the horrible contracts they have handed out over the last decade and are tightening up. All of the players listed have glaring holes in their game and all of the pitchers are on the wrong side of 30. I think hitters that aren’t 5 tool players and pitchers that are over 30 and/or have injury problems are fooling themselves if they think they are getting giant long term contracts…
I mean when the Astros and their 30 million dollar payroll swept the Dodgers and their 300 million dollar payroll during the regular season, and then get further in the postseason it doesn’t make you want to run out and overspend on average free agents…
afenton530
Slight exaggeration on the payrolls, but exactly true. The last place team, Philadelphia, payed $135M to win 63 games.
bruinlife33
IMO big budget teams do not want to outbid themselves on getting players on high contracts only to be unproductive. More importantly, traditional big budget teams have seen the Astros, Rays and Royals become successful with manageable budgets.
Niekro
That isn’t something new though the A’s and Cardinals have been doing it for years, in fact their is more “Spenders” now than ever Last year only 8 teams were under 100 million dollars, The Royals had a 113 million dollar payroll. Greinke just received a huge contract from a non traditional spender. This has more to do with the Dodgers/Yankees looking ahead to 2018 than any thing else.
kbarr888
Justin Upton, the youngest major FA left……is in a position to sign a lucrative 2-3 year deal (similar to an opt-out), then cash in again when he’s 31……if teams are balking at giving him a 7 or 8 year contract.. Greinke just did it……Heyward very possibly could do it……but Upton has the skill set to pull it off. Just 2 years older than Heyward, he could fill Heyward’s shoes in RF for the Cards for a few years, then their young core will definitely be ready to take over in the OF…..(Pham / Grichuk / Piscotty)…..they’re actually very close right now! Upton then could move to the AL, where he could play the field for a few more years, then move to a DH role, with spot starts in the OF.
hallzilla 2
Kbarr, I agree with 99 % of your post. The slight difference is that I think Upton will still require a 6-7 year deal. (with an opt-out after 3 yr.) He’ll want the guaranteed $$$ of a 6-7 year deal, with the chance to make more after 3. I strongly DISAGREE with Buster Olney, there’s no way Upton takes a 1 year “pillow” contract. Even if Upton’s price drops to the 6 year-$105 mil range, he’ll take it and use the opt-out. That’s too much money to take a chance on losing due to injury. I agree with you, Upton would look good in Cardinal red. Wish it would happen, don’t think it will.
mctigers
The owners don’t see things the way we do, as readers or even mlb trade rumors writers. We see stats and production, they see dollars. We think the market is set by things like 1 WAR = $X. But there is more than winning going into these contracts. Look at those names… are any of those guys really going to move tons of merchandise or attract interest once their skills deteroriate? Other than Gordon/Davis as hometown favs in KC/Balt, those guys might contribute on the field for a little while, but that’s the end of it. Nobody wants the back end of that contract when you get minimal performance and no notoriety. It’s also why a guy like Pujols or Cabrera DOES get offered big money into those sunset years… they’ll be chasing history and dragging people to the park for one last glimpse while selling nostalgic jerseys to men that remember them from childhood for years to come.
TheMichigan
Not really true, they look at stats, I don’t know one organization who doesn’t I want a guy who produces, over selling jerseys, because if a guy is producing then people want his jersey.