Baseball Free Agency - It's Almost Time for Agents to Start Working
With the World Series finally wrapped up, it also means we’re on the figurative eve of the Hot Stove season. Baseball players have 15 days following the conclusion of the World Series to file for free agency.
This leads to endless speculation about which player will exercise their option clauses, which players will be non-tendered by their clubs, and who needs whom in order to fill lineup holes for next season. As usual, MLB Trade Rumors does a stellar job of evaluating every team’s needs and wants based on their payroll.
For anyone wondering about who are the free agents, Cot’s Baseball Contracts provides a run down of free agent position players here, and pitchers here.
Rest assured that while the agents for the big name free agents this year such as John Lackey and Chone Figgins are counting on big paydays from the few teams able to add payroll this offseason, agents for the other players are frantically studying the data to see where their clients would fit. Most players have probably already made their decision about filing for free agency, but a few are still waiting for final word from their agents before deciding what road to take.
After free agency gets going, that means the winter meetings are right around the corner, and then a quiet period over the holidays, followed by the usual flurry of arbitration hearings (and last-minute compromises) before teams report for spring training.
