MLB 2018 Update: Unsigned Free Agents May End Up in Spring Training Camp
The Major League Baseball's (MLB) free-agent market has been pretty slow since the start of the offseason, and nothing of much significance has taken place to trigger suspicion or the need to examine the concessions that the MLB Players Association has made in its most recent collective bargaining deal. Despite that, however, there have been talks that the legions of free agents might come together to organize their own spring training camp to gear up for the next season.
Since the offseason started sometime in mid-December, nothing much has happened in the MLB aside from the Yankees trading for Giancarlo Stanton and the Angels signing the valuable Japanese free agent Shohei Ohtani. At this point, more than half of the MLB's top 73 free agents are still unsigned and are potential candidates in the spring training camp.
For the Win noted in a recent article that this year's unsigned free agents could do better than MLB's rebuilding clubs over the course of a 162-game season, especially the least-performing teams like the Tigers, Padres and Marlins. The same article noted that the players who remain in free agency have all the makings of a mature and competitive 25-man MLB roster, so it's highly possible that if no club sign them before next week, they might just end up in the spring training camp.
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In a recent statement, someone with union ties told ESPN, "If it is something that a group of free agent players thinks is beneficial to them, the logistics of it are not hard and will be done. If there is a need for that, it will be provided. Period. End of story."
Right now, the spring training camp is still on the speculative stage, but considering the number of unsigned free agents who are still waiting for positive news, the possibility of gathering these players and sending them to a spring training camp becomes more of a talking point each day.
