MLB‘s lockout went on for months, but when it ended on March 10, we all knew that crazy days would follow.
It has been a week since the official start of spring training lockouts (lots of players reported to their teams before then, though), and while the next few hours after the end of the lockout were slow, the moves started to flow soon after the CBA agreement.
“The official start of spring training workouts was just a week ago today, but it sure felt a whole lot longer for #MLB executives and player agents, packing almost an entire offseason into seven frenzied days with the hundreds of signings and major trades,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted.
The official start of spring training workouts was just a week ago today, but it sure felt a whole lot longer for #MLB executives and player agents,
packing almost an entire offseason into seven frenzied days with the hundreds of signings and major trades.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 21, 2022
In fact, the last week and a half has been extremely thrilling for baseball fans, and that’s good for the game.
It has been exciting because there were a lot of prominent unsigned free agents who didn’t commit to any team once the lockout started.
The Stars Have Already Signed
Players like Carlos Rodon, Kris Bryant, Freddie Freeman, Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, Clayton Kershaw, Nick Castellanos, Kenley Jansen, Anthony Rizzo, and others signed in the last 10 days.
Not only that, but there have been a lot of trades, too.
Teams with strong farm systems but limited financial resources often opt to pursue a star via trade rather than splurge on a free agent.
The Atlanta Braves traded for Matt Olson to play first base, and the New York Yankees secured third baseman Josh Donaldson.
The New York Mets sent two quality prospects to the rebuilding Oakland Athletics in exchange for pitcher Chris Bassitt, too.
Only Michael Conforto, among the truly high-profile names, is still looking for a team.
Additionally, the A’s could trade pitchers Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas.
Everyone else is signed at this point, and the season is only a few days ahead.
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