Written by Jacob Shafer at BleacherReport.com
The offseason won’t technically end until the first glorious, meaningless pitch of the MLB exhibition slate is thrown. We’re getting close, though. Pitchers and catchers are packing their bags. Groundskeepers in the Sunshine and Grand Canyon States are rumbling into action.
Baseball’s coming. Can you feel it?
Before we dive into the cocktail of stretching, double switches, injury updates, non-roster invitees and position battles that is spring training, let’s take a look back at the winter that was.
Every offseason can be classified as “wild,” in the sense that marquee players inevitably swap uniforms and at least a few Scrooge McDuck deals are always inked. But the past few months have been especially impactful, with repercussions both immediate and far-reaching.
While we can’t possibly rehash every offseason twist and machination without turning your eyeballs to goo, here are five significant takeaways with notes on the inevitable fallout.
Slap on some pine tar, limber up your hammies and dig in.
Pitching Got Paid
It was a great winter for aces and the agents and accountants who serve them.
Take the $217 million the Boston Red Sox gave David Price, the $206.5 million the Arizona Diamondbacks tossed at Zack Greinke, the $110 million the Detroit Tigers slipped Jordan Zimmermann and the combined $220 million the San Francisco Giants handed Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, and you’re talking about five arms reeling in more dough than the gross domestic product of Samoa.
Even more tellingly, all five pitchers fell off the board well before the new year, while top hitters like Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes and Justin Upton had to wait well into January for the market to thaw.
That may seem counterintuitive. In today’s pitching-dominated MLB, you’d think sluggers would be the most coveted commodity.
But with next year’s expected free-agent pool bereft of No. 1 options outside of Stephen Strasburg, clearly clubs with front-line rotation needs understood this was the time to strike and strike hard.
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