The NBA has always been a testament to the power of sport. From its beginnings in 1891, it had taken off and by 1926, was one of the most popular sports leagues around. In recent years though as social media has become an ever-growing part of everyday life for many people, we have seen how much disruption this can cause on traditional sporting events such as basketball games.
The “nba schedule” is a website that shows the current nba schedules. It also has predictions for upcoming games and scores.
It was entertaining while it lasted.
We got a taste of what baseball’s hot stove season may look like if it was allowed to blossom to its full potential for two blissful weeks. It started with a few trickles in mid-November — an Eduardo Rodriguez here, a Noah Syndergaard there — and turned into a full-fledged gusher two weeks later. The signings arrived at such a breakneck pace that it was almost disorienting, in a positive sense.
Then, in the end of December 1, the fire hose of transactions came to a halt, as if someone had forgotten to pay the water bill. Except for a few lower league invitations, it’s been crickets since then. Only the most recent publicly publicized, self-serving remarks from both sides of baseball’s big money conflict remain, ringing across streets that were only a few days before alive with cries and laughing.
To put it another way, an otherwise enjoyable offseason has suddenly turned into a tremendous disappointment. Thank heavens for the Hall of Fame’s magnificent announcements on Sunday.
Let’s take a minute now, now that baseball’s summer has been paused by the big cosmic pause button, to realize that baseball stumbled onto something fairly special when it sparked a flurry of activity in preparation of a jarring shutdown we all knew was coming. Why not use what you’ve learned and make the MLB free-agent deadline a yearly event?
There have been several discussions on adjustments that should or should be made to better prepare baseball for the future. The majority of them have entailed modifications to the product on the field, and they’ve been polarizing, as change always is, but they’re worth talking about.
Commissioner Rob Manfred stated in a press conference last week, “We didn’t propose any particular rule changes. We’re currently reviewing the modifications we’ve made. Based on our conversations at the table, we saw it as yet another tough subject that we sought to push to the side in order to get an agreement, with the hope of revisiting it in the middle of the next accord.”
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To put it another way, modifications to the game itself are now a lesser priority than changes to the industry’s economic underpinnings. As a result, the concept of a transaction deadline, which has gained traction in recent weeks as we’ve seen how it may play out, is now a side issue at best, and may not be mentioned at all.
So it’ll be up to us to recall, remember November’s movements, because that’s how a lively offseason should look.
The two-week period between E-signing Rod’s in Detroit and the CBA’s expiry was a protracted case of déjà vu for me because it reminded me of the start of the NBA’s free-agency era, which I covered in the first part of the decade. It’s all relative, of course, since the speed of transactions didn’t quite approach that of the NBA, but it was an avalanche compared to the regular flow of a baseball offseason.
It’s fantastic. Another big move has occurred by the time you evaluate one major move, what it implies, and what the teams involved need to do in response. Three additional moves are speculated for every one you obtain.
The drama appeals to more than seamstresses, since everyone enjoys a good move. Baseball was gaining ears, eyeballs, and clicks during a time of year when most general sports fans’ attention were fixated on football or the fledgling basketball season. It was doing so at a time of year when baseball is generally quiet, unless you’re obsessed with the non-tender deadline.
As a business, baseball has to make this a built-in element of its offseason. Despite the fact that no one was really expecting for it to happen during that two-week period, particularly in the days running up to the lockout, it caused quite a stir. Oh, there was some foreshadowing, with writers like ESPN’s Jeff Passan predicting that there would be a lot of free agency activity before the CBA expired. Seeing it happen in real life was equally astonishing, thrilling, and taxing.
Consider what it would be like if we knew there would be a burst of activity like that every November and/or December. It’s like the trade deadline, but better. It’s possible that MLB will advertise it. Media sources might cover it extensively both in before and while it unfolds. Teams might set up access as needed. A period like this would quickly become one of baseball’s most popular periods of the year.
While it evokes the excitement that usually accompanies NBA free agency, the characteristics of the sport are so unlike that this dynamic could never be entirely duplicated in baseball. The NBA’s own CBA, which contains a salary limit, midlevel exceptions, and other roster-related processes that are ultimately connected to league income, is one of the reasons it functions the way it does. The transaction ban in that sport serves to prohibit clubs from conducting behind-the-scenes deals before formal contracts can be announced.
Baseball isn’t organized that way, and it probably never will be, but a format similar to the NBA’s might work.
There are a variety of ways it may be handled, but the final day of the winter meetings provides a definite end point. Making that date the start of a transaction ban would make the winter meetings into the crown jewel of the baseball offseason, as they were supposed to be, given what we’ve seen time and time again when baseball’s executives are working under pressure.
Because of the trade deadline, we know this. We gather rumors and conjecture about potential transactions weeks in advance, and we attempt to categorize clubs as adders or subtractors. Then, until the hours, minutes, and, in some cases, seconds before the strict deadline, virtually nothing occurs. You might picture a similar scenario if we established a comparable offseason deadline for, say, 5 p.m. ET on the final day of the winter meetings.
So, when would the relocations begin, and when would they be able to resume?
On the former, I’d estimate a week, maybe ten days after the World Series ends. That’s not all that different from how things are today. Players, on the other hand, are essentially free agents as soon as the World Series concludes, even if they are on the winning team. I’d like to see a three-day pause there, at the very least to provide the winning club and its followers a little respite from their hard-won triumph. For God’s sake, let them enjoy a parade. After that, you should continue to give a free agent’s most recent club an exclusive bargaining window, say seven to nine days.
That puts us around the middle of November, which seems reasonable. The conclusion of the winter sessions is usually in the second week of December. So, for the key trades in baseball, you’re looking at a three-plus-week timeframe. If the dynamic is similar to last year’s, it will flow similarly, with a few movements increasing into a large number of moves as the deadline approaches.
Because this was a highly good free-agent class, not every frenzied time would be like 2021. This isn’t the case for everyone. However, you can hope that markets similar to those seen in the winter of 2018-19 are averted. The best players in the class (Bryce Harper and Manny Machado) didn’t sign until after spring training started, which was a pain.
We’ve got the latest on MLB’s first lockout since 1990, as well as where things stand with free agency (which is presently stalled). Complete coverage »
• MLB Lockout FAQ: Everything You Need to Know ›
• Tracking free-agents »
That wasn’t by chance. Prolonging time is typically seen as one of the biggest sources of leverage by the union, players, and their representatives. Wait a little longer, since there’s nearly always a better bargain around the corner. I’m sorry, but I’m not convinced. All of the original system’s dynamics would still be there, albeit in a condensed version.
The Mets’ actions during this year’s hysteria is an excellent illustration of this. Consider the timeline of events. E-Rod, Syndergaard, and Justin Verlander were all engaged in the first few large trades (though his reported signing with Houston has never been officially announced).
The Mets were said to be players in that market, but they didn’t get it. We know they lost out on a chance to bring Steven Matz back to New York due to owner Steve Cohen’s social media outrage.
The Mets moved to sign three position regulars in one day — Mark Canha, Starling Marte, and Eduardo Escobar — in at least a partial reaction, and then blew the market away with a three-year, $130 million contract with future Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherzer. The three position players may have been modest overpays, but not severe overpays. Would any of this have occurred by December 1 if the Mets and the rest of the industry hadn’t been on a competitive schedule?
And for the players, how much more did Scherzer earn because the Mets wanted to be bold, and the window of opportunity to do so was closing?
In normal circumstances, the Mets would be able to advertise their new-look lineup and starting rotation, which includes probably the two most exciting pitchers in baseball in Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom. The Rangers would be able to advertise Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Jon Gray for the next two months, while the Tigers would be able to tempt their supporters with Javier Baez and Rodriguez.
Finally, even if an offseason transaction deadline isn’t ideal for agents, players, or even clubs, don’t we have to do something every now and then simply because it’s in the best interests of the sport?
All movements would continue under a moratorium. Teams might still grant minor league invitations, for example, as long as the definition of a minor league contract is strictly adhered to. During the moratorium, I’d allow a second window of bargaining between players and their previous clubs. Give continuity another shot, particularly now that some players have discovered that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
We’d also want to see some kind of trade dialogue amongst CEOs. General managers often discuss how setting the framework for negotiations is a lengthy process. And we don’t want to put off the transactions for too long because it’s unfair to the players, who have to plan their life around their playing schedules. We’ll need distinct criteria and timelines for different types of movements in any revamp of the transaction calendar.
Then, on February 1, I’d reopen for full business. That may sound excessively late, but I really want to make that end-of-the-winter-meetings deadline a deadline for getting things done. Teams have until February 1 to make changes before spring training begins.
It’s conceivable that a top free agent may choose to wait out a moratorium, but it’s problematic if the pattern becomes that clubs spend the bulk of their offseason money before the ban kicks in. Basically, once February 1 arrives, we want to start focusing on the next season rather than the offseason. A few of stragglers will always be a possibility.
Look, there hasn’t been much positive about this lockout, and confrontations like this always lead to nasty language because applauding the ideas of the other side, whatever that side may be, isn’t a smart negotiation tool.
After this one is resolved, we don’t need another lockout, but what about the free-agent frenzy? That should be a permanent fixture on the baseball calendar.
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