I had to go to 33% zoom on Chrome to get this screengrab.
And my monitor is in portrait!
That’s a list of MLB free-agents that – as of this post – have yet to be signed.
Pitchers and catchers start reporting to spring training in less than a week.
As in… 7 days.
What. Is. Going. On?
Nothing good.
- Tanking appears to be the new winning
- Payrolls are dropping
- Labor relations are straining
- Chances of competing are dwindling
- Think pieces are being published
Cardinals fans are over here crowing about a passive off-season while at least 25 other fan bases roll their eyes deeply into the back of their heads.
I mean, I get it.
The worst place to be (in any sport) is middled.
If you’re winning? You’re winning.
If you’re losing? At least you’re getting premium draft picks.
The middle, though? You get neither the joys of success, nor the spoils of failure.
You’re just kind of there.
And now that the Cubs and Astros have summited the mountain after stripping their clubs to the studs, there’s a race to the bottom that we have never seen in MLB.
It’s not even a week into February and here are a list of teams that have tapped out of 2018’s championship race:
- Miami Marlins
- Tampa Bay Rays
- Kansas City Royals
- Detroit Tigers
- Chicago White Sox
- Oakland A’s
- Atlanta Braves
- Philadelphia Phillies
- Pittsburgh Pirates
- Cincinnati Reds
- San Diego Padres
That’s over 1/3 of MLB teams that have either actively traded quality players away, let their own free-agents walk or invested in a minimal amount of new MLB contracts all in the hopes of losing this upcoming season and getting more prospects for future seasons.
1/3!
The problem – which I’m sure a couple of those teams above will discover – is that when everyone is tanking, you might still end up in the middle of the pack.
I don’t have any solutions.
All I know is that it’s less than a week until baseball is back.
And it’s not off to a fun start.
Photo: TED
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