MLB 2018-19 Offseason Thread

Think of it this way. If Machado would have been willing to take a 5 year deal, 15 teams would have lined up to give it to him. By opting out, the player gives his team the gift of getting them out of paying for his declining years. As a Yankee fan, it was so frustrating that when ARod and Sabathia opted out, the team didn't just thank its lucky stars and move on.

 

I'd add Carlton Fisk to the White Sox and Jon Lester to the Cubs to the list. And I don't think the list is so short, seeing as very early on clubs took care to sign their best players to long-term contracts before they got to free agency.

 

Are you limiting it to players who changed teams? If not, I would add Jeter.

 

If you're talking about players who didn't change teams, the list gets much longer. Also if we add players traded for Confederate pennies on the dollar before they could hit free agency, like Pedro Martinez.

 

Jon Lester's worked out pretty well for the Cubs.

 

No, I would only count long term re-ups.

 

Well, there's a case like Mike Schmidt, who doesn't fit that exactly because his re-ups (of what had been considered a long-term contract at the time) were shorter-term to allow for market adjustments.

 

Votto with the Reds(so far)

 

One-third of which is aided dramatically by PEDs.

 

Jury still way out on David Price, who was about to be run out of Boston until he was a regular, postseason and World Series hero in 2018.

 

That's absolutely irrelevant to this discussion. Rest assured signings in the PED era were made with that in mind. The fact that everybody played dumb back then doesn't mean they were dumb.

 

I was fairly buzzed and thought he was 22 when he signed it. He signed it after four full seasons in MLB. I was thinking he debuted at 18, so he must have been 22. Forgot he didn't stick until age 20.