Today represents the forty-year anniversary of the advent of modern free agency, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan explores. The piece includes some interesting quotes from some of those involved at the time.
As the market marches forward this winter, here’s the latest:
- Free agent southpaw Mark Buehrle remains in a sort of holding pattern as he ponders retirement, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com reports on Twitter. The durable veteran is neither planning to sign for 2016 nor ruling out a “possible comeback down the road,” says Crasnick. That seems largely to confirm prior reports, but dangles the interesting possibility that Buehrle could take some time off and look to make a return in the future.
- Lefty reliever Matt Thornton is among the solid players still looking for a deal, and he joined MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM to discuss his status (links to Twitter). The hard-throwing southpaw is getting on in years, but says he’s “not a typical 38-year-old” — a proposition that’s hard to dispute given that he still throws a 93.5 mph average heater (though that’s off a bit from recent years). Though Thornton said it’s been a “slow” market, he isn’t looking to settle. “I’m not taking an invite,” he said. “I’m getting a Major League deal or I need to look at myself and decide if I need to walk away.”
- Mets GM Sandy Alderson addressed reporters today at the press conference to re-introduce Yoenis Cespedes. He says the club is done with major league signings for the winter, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com tweets. That’s not too surprising, of course, as New York has already given out six MLB deals this winter.
- One of those Mets signings left righty Carlos Torres without a roster spot, and he has drawn quite a lot of interest since he cleared waivers and hit the open market, NJ.com’s Brandon Kuty writes. The Yankees have reached out, as have several Asian clubs, per the report. Torres has been a sturdy pen presence in recent years despite tough results in 2015.
Signing 16 year olds to big contracts has its pitfalls. For one, he’ll almost certainly be out of options by the time he hits big leagues. Better be good enough to play by then.
Wrong thread … bleh …
With the huge reliever market, it’s baffling how no one has gone to Thornton yet. He held lefties to a .484 OPS last year. That should get him a 5 mill deal in this market.
At 38, 1 year major league deal gets it done.
Boston could use another lefty out of the pen
Would love the jays to sign Thornton to a 2 year deal worth 8m If he would take it.
I’ll bet he would take it and, IMO, he would be well worth it.
I was just thinking the same thing! 3 lefties out of the Jays pen that are all different from one another. Would also give Gibby a few more options for match ups.
Considering Tony Sipp got, what, 2 and 12M from the Astros, it seems like Thornton could get something like 2 and 8 or 1 and 5. I understand Sipp is a lot younger and a lot better, but teams do love their LOOGYs.
Meh