The MLB lockout is over. Here's where we left off in the offseason
After more than three months of radio silence, contentious negotiations, social media sniping, offers, counteroffers, venue changes, late nights and, finally, a deal, the MLB offseason is back online. The start of the regular season is now around a month away, and there is still so much that needs to be done.
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When we last left the MLB offseason, a few teams had just wrapped up the most furious shopping spree the league had ever seen.
The Texas Rangers set an MLB record for most money spent in a single offseason, and did it with basically three players: Corey Seager, Marcus Semien and Jon Gray, who added up to $556 million in new contract money. The New York Mets, led by MLB's new richest owner in hedge fun billionaire Steve Cohen, weren't far behind Texas, signing future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer to a record three-year, $130 million deal and bringing in multiple other talented players to finance the team's hopes of a leap forward.
Other notable players to sign ahead of the deadline included Robbie Ray, Kevin Gausman, Javier Baez, Chris Taylor and Marcus Stroman. Pretty much all of these deals happened within the span of a week, as teams and players both tried to lock things down before the widely expected lockout hit.
Despite that flurry of activity, there still seems to be an overwhelmingly long to-do list for MLB's 30 teams before opening days, though some have more to do than others. Here are the biggest storylines left as players prepare to hit the field.
Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman lead remaining free agents
Seager, Scherzer, et al may be off the board, but there are still several more players in line for nine-figure deals.
Carlos Correa remains the biggest whale of them all. More than a few observers value the Houston Astros shortstop higher than Seager, who in November signed one of the 10 most valuable contracts in MLB history. Any team with money to burn and a need at shortstop, or even just a mild curiosity, is going to be checking in with the All-Star.
Freddie Freeman may have been the most discussed free agent to not get a deal done before the lockout hit. He just won a cathartic World Series with the Atlanta Braves and drew interest from plenty of big spenders when he hit the free market. The Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays have all been speculated here, and things could move quickly now that the offseason is afoot.
Kris Bryant is arguably the most versatile player on the market, and still carries a middle-of-the-order bat. He split last season between the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, and could fit into just about any team willing to meet his price.
Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen are both longtime Los Angeles Dodgers who could land elsewhere. There is speculation that Kershaw may follow Seager to his native Texas, which somehow still has money to spend.
Other notable free agents include Trevor Story, Nick Castellanos, Anthony Rizzo, Michael Conforto and Kyle Schwarber, and that's just the top segment of a market that has about three weeks to do three months' worth of activity.
The Athletics may be on the brink of a fire sale
The Oakland Athletics have long been a case study in remaining competitive despite a low payroll, but the team seems on the verge of tearing everything down.
Oakland is coming off an 86-76 season in which it missed the playoffs. It hasn't reached the ALCS since 2006, and hasn't won a game in the championship series since 1992. The team isn't going to be spending big to improve on last year, and it has the following players scheduled to hit free agency after either the 2022 or 2023 season:
Matt Chapman
Matt Olson
Sean Manaea
Chris Bassitt
Frankie Montas
Every All-Star the A's have ever had is either on that list or no longer with the team. Meanwhile, the organization's farm system was recently ranked 28th in baseball by ESPN and 29th by The Athletic.
All of that sounds very much like a team that will be making a few calls once trades are allowed again.
What to do with Trevor Bauer?
The ugliest remaining thread of the offseason belongs to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. He spent the final three months of the 2021 season on administrative leave amid sexual assault accusations.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined to charge Bauer, citing insufficient evidence, ending the criminal aspect of what has been a messy case, but MLB can still suspend the right-hander. No player has ever been suspended for more than a full season and Bauer's time on administrative leave figures to count as time served, so it seems probable Bauer will be free to play by the end of the 2022 season.
The larger question may be whether he is free to play with the Dodgers. Bauer accepted his administrative leave last year, but has already signaled his intention to return to the Dodgers, where some veterans reportedly do not want him back in the clubhouse.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, moving on from Bauer could still mean giving him quite a bit of money. He signed a three-year, $102 million contract last offseason, with opt-outs after each season. Bauer has already opted into a $32 million salary for 2022 and has every reason to take the same sum for 2023. The Dodgers don't have to pay him for games he has been suspended, but that won't cover the whole contract.
Of course, the Dodgers could try terminating Bauer's contract with cause, but that would set up another nasty legal battle in a tenure that has been full of them.
