The Cold Hot Stove

The+Cold+Hot+Stove

Danny Camarena, Reporter

As we inch closer and closer to spring training two of the biggest names are still on the MLB free agent market. Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and some other notable free agents remain without a team with less than a month left until Spring Training. With the past couple seasons there has been an outcry for commissioner Rob Manfred to do something about how slow the off-season has been moving. Many players have been forced to take smaller and shorter contracts as a result.

Coming into the offseason all baseball fans were excited as Manny Machado and Bryce Harper two franchise changing players were free agents and expecting massive contracts. Bryce Harper turned down a 10 year $300 million contract from his former team the Nationals as he wanted to test the waters of free agency. Here we are in early February and they both remain unsigned. Both expected record setting contracts, and now it seems they will not receive their expected payout. It was rumored that Machado received a 7 year 175 million dollar deal from the White Sox. While no one truly knows the validity of the rumor as Machado agent shut it down, it is much lower than expected. The Phillies has also expressed interest in Machado as well as Harper. It’s not just these two guys though; there is great talent on the board. Former Cy Young award winner Dallas Keuchel and utility man Marwin Gonzalez remain unsigned. It is hard for a market to brew for these guys when the top player are yet to decide.

The logical solution is to create some sort of deadline to shorten up the free agency period. Even players in the league are taking notice on the issue. 3rd basemen Evan Longoria said,“We are less then a month from the start of spring and once again some of our games biggeststars remain unsigned. Such a shame.” With such short time left until the season gets going it will be interesting to see where the stars will land.