MLB’s free agency period has been a bit stagnant in the 2023-24 offseason.
The World Series finished in November.
It’s February, spring training camps have opened, and some of the best players are still unsigned.
Blake Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young, hasn’t signed.
Cody Bellinger, a former MVP, is still free, too.
Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman, J.D. Martinez… there are many players available.
For one reason or another, teams haven’t met these players’ asking prices.
Current MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred believes he has a potential solution.
“Rob Manfred says MLB would ‘prefer’ to have a free agent signing period in December with a deadline that would drive players to agree to deals: ‘We’d rather have two weeks of flurried activity in December, preferably around the Winter Meetings,'” SNY tweeted.
Rob Manfred says MLB would "prefer" to have a free agent signing period in December with a deadline that would drive players to agree to deals:
"We'd rather have two weeks of flurried activity in December, preferably around the Winter Meetings" pic.twitter.com/Ncyb5wxGRn
— SNY (@SNYtv) February 15, 2024
Manfred is not exactly the most popular person in baseball right now (especially since he is going to stay in front of the league until early 2029), but he could have the framework of something here.
Many fans have complained about the lack of activity in the offseason, and they are right to an extent.
The idea is to make MLB resemble the NBA in that regard: a few hours or days of sudden, flurried activity.
However, there are things to iron out about that plan, like what will be the punishment for those who can’t agree to contracts on time, or the reward for those who do.
Still, it’s a viable idea in principle.
For now, it’s just that, though: an idea and a potential solution to something that people might view as a problem.
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