“Good sign for the health of big markets”, “Cool so we’re done for the offseason”

“Good sign for the health of big markets”, “Cool so we’re done for the offseason”

It’s being reported that the MLB trade market is dead at the moment. Teams would rather spend money on free agents rather than losing a player in a trade.

Very few teams have engaged in any trade talks since the off-season began. Most teams around the league were focusing on acquiring free agents, especially with the Winter Meetings happening in San Diego last week.

One ramification of the free agent frenzy: The trade market is dead (at least for today). Teams obviously would rather spend $ than give up players. Good sign for the health of baseball.

MLB insider Jon Heyman states that this is a “good sign for the health of baseball.” One could argue that a dead trade market would push teams to spend money on free agents, but that wouldn’t be the case for all teams. Even if small-market teams are pushed into splurging in free agency, they still have to be the destination the free agent wants to go to.

Some fans are arguing that this isn’t good for the MLB. It leaves a couple of teams at the top fighting for nearly all of the free agents that are worthwhile. Especially during the off-season, it’s been the same teams dominating the headlines.

“Good sign for the health of the big markets you mean,” one fan responded.

@JonHeyman Good sign for the health of big markets you mean

“Oh cool so we’re done for the offseason,” said another fan.

Oh cool so we’re done for the offseason twitter.com/JonHeyman/stat…

@JonHeyman No it just means small and mid markets that Normally build their teams through trade have yet another obstacle to overcome

@JonHeyman Baseball is not healthy. The Mets’ luxury penalty will be more than 3 teams’ payrolls. That not a healthy sport. A healthy league has just about everyone in on free agents, like the NFL, and not just like 8 teams spending

@JonHeyman Jon there are like 5 teams actually trying to win

@JonHeyman Well when you have Billy Beane asking for a king’s ransom for a massively overrated catcher, if that’s how trade demands have gotten now, then it’s no wonder the trade market is slowing down.

@JonHeyman Do fans in cities like Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Tampa think $300+ million contracts are healthy for baseball?

@JonHeyman There’s basically 5 teams hoarding all the good players. Without a salary floor there’s no parity in the league. That’s not good for the health of baseball

@JonHeyman We are not going to see trades ? boring …

@JonHeyman With free agent prices skyrocketing shouldn’t the trade market be alive as a way for teams to get players on the relative cheap (ie Bryan Reynolds)?

MLB fans are adamant that only having around five teams battling over every free agent is not healthy for the game of baseball. It leaves small-market teams like the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics in the dust. There’s no way they’ll be able to compete with the New York Yankees in free agency.

Other fans are pointing out how disappointed they are that the trade market is dead. It’s fun watching teams swap players. Most fans spend hours on an MLB trade simulator, coming up with fun trades between teams just for their own amusement.

Some MLB fans want the league to implement a salary cap

Championship Series - San Diego Padres v Philadelphia Phillies - Game Four
Championship Series – San Diego Padres v Philadelphia Phillies – Game Four

Some baseball fans have been asking the league to implement a salary cap. Without one, it gives big-market teams an unfair advantage in the off-season. Small-market teams can’t afford to sign multiple players to big contracts.

That’s why there’s a big divide in the league. Teams get stuck trying to build their teams in the draft and trades. They may be able to snag big-time players away from big-market teams, but that doesn’t happen often.

We’ll likely never see a salary cap, especially if owners like Steven Cohen and Pete Seidler have anything to say about it.

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