Stars sidelined ahead of spring training
Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel won’t be around when spring training begins this week. They are among the dozens of free agents still looking for jobs, joined by Mike Moustakas, Marwin Gonzalez, Carlos Gonzalez and Gio Gonzalez.
For the second straight winter, camps are opening with many rosters in flux.
Among the 164 players who exercised free-agency rights at the end of last year’s World Series, 84 had announced agreements on the eve of spring training. That is up from 65 of 166 at roughly the same point last season, but down from 105 of 158 two years ago.
A drawn-out negotiating process means clubs have lost time in marketing new acquisitions, which seems especially significant to a sport coming off three straight years of attendance decline. Average attendance dropped below 30,000 last year for the first time since 2003.
Oakland and Seattle open the regular season in Tokyo March 20 and 21, a week before other teams get underway. Six new managers are in charge and five of them are big-league rookie skippers. Rocco Baldelli (Minnesota), David Bell (Cincinnati), Brandon Hyde (Baltimore), Charlie Montoyo (Toronto) and Chris Woodward (Texas) are the first-timers, joined by the Los Angeles Angels’ Brad Ausmus, Detroit’s manager from 2014-17. Among the major trades of the off-season, Philadelphia obtained catcher J.T. Realmuto from Miami, St. Louis got first baseman Paul Goldschmidt from Arizona and the New York Mets got second baseman Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz from Seattle.
In the free-agent market thus far, Washington added left-hander Patrick Corbin and the Los Angeles Dodgers signed outfielder A.J. Pollock, Atlanta got third baseman Josh Donaldson and Colorado picked up second baseman Daniel Murphy.
By March 28, when most teams open, many rosters will look significantly different.