It’s being reported that the MLB trade market is dead at the moment. Teams would rather spend money on free agents rather than losing a player in a trade.
Very few teams have engaged in any trade talks since the off-season began. Most teams around the league were focusing on acquiring free agents, especially with the Winter Meetings happening in San Diego last week.
MLB insider Jon Heyman states that this is a “good sign for the health of baseball.” One could argue that a dead trade market would push teams to spend money on free agents, but that wouldn’t be the case for all teams. Even if small-market teams are pushed into splurging in free agency, they still have to be the destination the free agent wants to go to.
Some fans are arguing that this isn’t good for the MLB. It leaves a couple of teams at the top fighting for nearly all of the free agents that are worthwhile. Especially during the off-season, it’s been the same teams dominating the headlines.
“Good sign for the health of the big markets you mean,” one fan responded.
“Oh cool so we’re done for the offseason,” said another fan.
MLB fans are adamant that only having around five teams battling over every free agent is not healthy for the game of baseball. It leaves small-market teams like the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics in the dust. There’s no way they’ll be able to compete with the New York Yankees in free agency.
Other fans are pointing out how disappointed they are that the trade market is dead. It’s fun watching teams swap players. Most fans spend hours on an MLB trade simulator, coming up with fun trades between teams just for their own amusement.
Some MLB fans want the league to implement a salary cap
