Spring training started last week across Major League Baseball and yet the biggest free agent on the market, Bryce Harper, remains unsigned.
In any other sport, a player of Harper's caliber being unsigned so close to a new season would be unthinkable. In fact, most other sports see the top free agents sign just a few days (or even hours) after the free-agent market has opened.
For the last two years, baseball's free-agent market has been a bad one for the top players looking to get paid. Star shortstop Manny Machado ultimately got a $300 million contract from the San Diego Padres last week, but it took many months for him to find a new team.
Boston Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez went through this painful process last winter before ultimately signing a five-year, $110 million contract. It was far less than experts predicted he would get at the start of free agency. Martinez recently spoke to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford about the state of free agency in baseball, and the slugger didn't hold back with his comments.
"One-hundred-percent," Martinez told WEEI.com when asked if he had an idea there would be a second straight offseason where free agents were being drastically more undervalued than in years' past. "I knew it was Why wouldn't it? They got away with it last year, why wouldn't they do it again? What's going to happen? Nothing. It's embarrassing for baseball, it really is. It's really embarrassing for the game. You have a business. They say, 'The market is down, the market is changing.' The market is higher than it's ever been. People are making more money than ever, and they're trying to suppress it. It's more of a race towards the bottom now than a race towards the top. You can go right now through everyone's lineup and you already know who's going to be in the playoffs. What's the fun in that? We might as well just fast-forward to the end of the season."
Martinez can opt out of his contract after years two, three and four, but there's currently not much incentive for him to do that given the lack of lucrative deals being signed by top-tier players. The 31-year-old star had a stellar 2018 season for Boston during which he batted .330 with 43 home runs and 130 RBI. Martinez helped Boston win the 2018 World Series and finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Free agency might not have gone according to plan for Martinez in before the 2018 campaign, but so far it's worked out pretty well for him from an on-field perspective.
Boston Red Sox
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