free agency

The Next Great Cuban Baseball Prospect Is Officially A Free Agent

Nineteen-year-old Cuban outfielder Luis Robert was declared a free agent yesterday, and will be free to sign with a team starting May 20. At 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, he’s considered one of the best international prospects on the market—second only to the already legendary Shohei Otani.

NFL Owners Keep Pitting Players Against Each Other

Kevin Clark of The Ringer takes a deep dive into the growing income inequality among NFL players. It’s worth your time. Basically, the current collective bargaining agreement, which runs through 2020, has created a system that is markedly slanted in favor of a small fraction of players. This was by design: The goal…

How The Patriots' Rare Spending Spree Fits What They Do

Fresh off another Super Bowl win, the Patriots are approaching the offseason with an uncharacteristic aggressiveness. The Pats have largely built their 16-year dynasty by drafting well, knowing when to flip high-priced veterans, and accumulating draft picks before it was cool. (Having arguably the greatest quarterback…

What's Left Of Eddie Lacy To Join The Seahawks

No position in the NFL has been devalued in recent years more than running back. The latest indication: Former Packers running back Eddie Lacy, who agreed to terms with the Seahawks. Adam Schefter’s got the initial contract skinny:

Cleveland Browns GM Unintentionally Burns Newly Acquired QB Brock Osweiler

It’s been a bad day for Brock Osweiler. The Houston Texans, who signed him to a massive four-year, $72 million deal one year ago, traded him to the Cleveland Browns along with a second-round pick this afternoon. Then, in case there was any confusion about just how much nobody wants Brock Osweiler, Browns GM Sashi…

Who's Getting What Now? NFL Free Agency For Dummies

If you’re an NFL fan paying attention to free-agency news, you’ve likely been inundated all week with breathless reports of interest and consideration and the occasional chatter about monster deals. (Monster!) You’re also probably seeing a lot of financial figures getting tossed around, and many of them turn out to be…

The Bears Will Pay A Lot For Mike Glennon, But Not $43.5 Million, C'mon

Mike Glennon, an NFL quarterback nobody has thought about for at least two seasons, suddenly found himself in the news this week when it was reported that he was going to score a contract that would pay him in the neighborhood of $15 million per year. That hypothetical has reportedly become a reality.

Scott Boras Wouldn't Advise California Players To Seek Early Free Agency

Yesterday, we considered the legal viability of baseball players using Section 2855 of the California Labor Code to enter free agency early. The state law stipulates that employees cannot be held to contracts of longer than seven years; over at FanGraphs, Nathaniel Grow speculated that Mike Trout—and other California…

Could Mike Trout Exploit A California Labor Law Quirk To Become A Free Agent Early?

There isn’t a team in Major League Baseball that wouldn’t jump at the chance to sign Mike Trout, whose two MVP awards in his first five years of big league service vastly underrepresent how good he really is. And there isn’t a team that could afford to do so that wouldn’t throw hundreds of millions of dollars in his…