There is a trend in the current baseball agreement that actually restricts the best free agents from signing with a new team. It is called the qualifying offer.
At the end of the season, a team can give one of their pending free agents a "qualifying offer" which means a one-year deal based upon a formula of current salaries. Last year, it was around $16 million. Now, that is still pretty good money for a positional slugger or an ace starting pitcher. But players and their agents would rather test the free agent market for a longer deal and more guaranteed money from a new team.
But the rub is that if this player who rejects a qualifying offer signs with a new team, that new team loses its first round draft pick (unless it is a top ten pick, then it is the team's second round pick). The old team gets a compensation pick at the end of the first round.
In recent years, general managers are very protective of their high draft picks. With the new slot value signing bonus structure of the CBA, it is more cost effective and less expensive to sign quality amateurs than it has in the past. Many teams have used their first round picks on near major league ready prospects, some quality college pitching arms in particular, and then have them on the major league roster in two or three years. This fast track approach to the draft is beneficial to the team because the new player is paid at the league minimum.
Despite the recent big money local TV contracts, most major league teams are extremely budget conscious in regard to payroll. It is really the one thing that ownership can control. Home grown players are by far cheaper and under control longer than free agents. And the best way most GMs believe is to build from within is to keep those high round draft picks.
So a player who declines a qualifying offer runs the risk of being tainted with "the loss of a draft pick" status.
Now, on the other side of the coin, there are a few teams that really don't care about that stigma. The Yankees for example give qualifying offers to their star players all the time, knowing that they will reject them and hit the free agent market. But that does not stop the Yankees from signing similar free agents that cost them a first round pick, because the team has the same or more "compensation" picks at the end of the rounds. For example, the Yankees make qualifying offers to players A, B and C, who reject them. The Yankees then sign player D, and lose their first round pick. But players A, B and C sign elsewhere, giving NY three sandwich first round picks. In essence, the Yankees have created to more late first round selections by tendering qualifying offers to its players.
There is a risk to a team making a player a $16 million qualifying offer. The player may take it. That is fine if the team believes the player is worth $16 million. But if not, then you have a high priced player to move before the trade deadline.
And a player without a full season contract will not receive a qualifying offer after a trade, which means the team taking him in trade will not gain a draft pick if the player signs with a new team the next off season. These "rent-a-players" are good for contending teams in have an immediate hole to fill. But since teams are guarding their prospects closer to the vest, the value of rental players has been declining over the past several seasons.
Free agency can be good for some players, like Robinson Cano, who made a legacy contract with Seattle, but at the same time restricted his market to those teams who did not mind losing a draft pick. Small market teams were never in the bidding for Cano, so some may believe the process is "no harm no foul." However, some people believe the idea of losing a first round pick for a small market team is like drinking poison. It defeats the purpose of building a pipeline of cheap, fast promotion prospects to fill their major league roster.
