So far the Major League Baseball offseason is off to a slow start, as the calendar is about to turn to 2018 and up until Friday when the Colorado Rockies signed closer Wade Davis to a three-year deal, none of the top 10 free agents had yet to come off the board.
A slew of relievers have cashed in on the open market, but many of the top position players like J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, Jay Bruce, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain, in addition to the top starters, Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta, all remain available. Historically, the Winter Meetings bring a flurry of activity.
One MLB agent claimed he saw a lack of free-agent signings coming, as he believes that part of the reason for that could be due to big market teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees taking strides to get below the luxury tax threshold, via Buster Olney of ESPN:
“I told you last year that this was an unequivocal disaster for the union,” one agent said this week. “All you need to do is look at the trends.”
It’s certainly understandable why the Dodgers want to get below the luxury tax, as they would have to pay 50 percent in taxes this upcoming season if they don’t. Whereas resetting requires them to only pay 20 percent once they exceed it again.
Los Angeles made a trade earlier this offseason, sending Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Charlie Culberson to the Atlanta Braves for Matt Kemp, which helped them shave around $25 million in salary in 2018 to get under the competitive balance tax threshold of $197 million.
With the likes of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Josh Donaldson, Dallas Keuchel and many others all possibly hitting free agency in 2018, the Dodgers will be in a prime position to sign one or more.
It just appears it may come at the expense of this winter’s free agency class.
