Free agency has changed baseball, but is it time to change the system?

Major League Baseball introduced free agency over 43 years ago and a lot has changed since those salad days of player movement. As Major League Baseball heads to the offseason and another free agent market, the money being paid to players around the league is at an all-time high. According to USA Today, modern Major League Baseball players are well off with over 50% of the league being millionaires.

Free agency may see salaries spiking around the league, but according to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the system in place today is the same as the one instituted in 1976. The baseball free agency system may be the same as it was when first installed over four decades ago, but it has altered the game dramatically. Some of the things it has changed have been for the better while other areas were altered for the worse.

Changing the unwritten rules

One of the most interesting items free agency has changed is the way in which players stick to the traditional unwritten rules of the game. At one time, Major League Baseball players were restricted from moving teams freely – or as freely as they do now. The restrictions on movement meant players were one-team men throughout their careers. Being with one team for an entire career, possibly 10 to 15 years in some cases, resulted in players defending their clubs far more than in modern baseball.

Baseball teams previously controlled everything about their players until the free agency era began. There were only two ways a player could leave a Major League Baseball team pre-1976. A team would either trade a player away or release them. Clubs had all the power and players had no say in their careers. This is why many players were only signed to one-year contracts. Baseball clubs had no way of losing their stars to another team unless they initiated the deal.

When free agency movement started, players got to move clubs and the unwritten rules that had prevailed for so long began to end. That isn’t to say all the unwritten rules of baseball are no longer in place. There are still plenty of laws that remain that should be ended but haven’t yet.

Is it time to change the free agency system?

While the unwritten rules of baseball have changed due to free agency many pundits of the game are calling for an overhaul of the player movement system. However, the area in which pundits and even Major League Baseball executives want the system to change isn’t what many would expect.

The free agency market has dragged on over the last few seasons and in 2019, the top players available – Manny Machado and Bryce Harper – didn’t sign with their current teams until Spring Training was well and truly started.

A shorter free agent market is being sought by many in baseball to draw more excitement to the offseason and make sure teams are better prepared for the season ahead. The long and slow free agent market in 2019 led to panic signings by several teams that resulted in big contracts being handed out.

Free agency has changed a lot of things around baseball, but unless the system is altered for the future, it could have a negative effect on the big league’s future.

Thank you to Betway MLB for this research.

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