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It’s the toughest time of the year for some MLB players, as spring training camps are beginning this week with a large crop of notable talent still looking for teams for the 2025 season—further showcasing the difficult nature of the current free-agent market.
The last two weeks have seen some former All-Stars including Pete Alonso, Anthony Santander, and Tanner Scott finding new deals after many weeks of inactivity, but there’s still a large collection of big names looking for contracts. Among them are Alex Bregman, Mark Canha, Andrew Heaney, Jose Iglesias, J.D. Martinez, and Alex Verdugo.
The Bregman situation in particular shows how much the overall player market has tightened after an initial sprint to the hot-stove season. That flurry included the historic, $765 million contract between the Mets and Juan Soto, a set of moves by the Yankees to help counter that superstar’s departure, the Dodgers continuing to flex their financial and competitive might with a $182 million pact for pitcher Blake Snell, and even a surprising, $210 million agreement between the Diamondbacks and star pitcher Corbin Burnes.
Much of that activity, however, happened before the start of the calendar year.
Bregman, a two-time All-Star who has also won a pair of World Series titles with the Astros, had been reportedly seeking a contract in excess of $200 million. Now nearing his 31st birthday and showing sharply diminished power at the plate compared to his peak in 2018 and 2019, he’s seen demand from teams come in well below that expectation.
When asked about Bregman this week, his agent Scott Boras referred to his client with a salesman-type pitch common for him.
“Among owners and teams, it’s a gold rush,” Boras told ESPN. “The acquiring team immediately … potentiates championship value.”
Another Costly Injury
One of the most disastrous free-agent contracts in MLB history, meanwhile, became even more damaging Wednesday as Angels GM Perry Minasian said third baseman Anthony Rendon will undergo surgery for a hip injury and is expected to again miss significant time this year. Rendon has played just 257 total games since signing a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Angels in December 2019, just weeks after leading the Nationals to the World Series title that year.
In what is still the 19th-largest player deal in league history, Rendon was expected to be a middle-of-the-order force for the Angels. Instead, he has not played more than 57 games in any of the five seasons in California while grappling with an extensive series of injuries, and he has batted just .242 for the Angels with minimal power.
It’s also the latest hit for Rendon after he drew widespread fan criticism last year after saying of playing baseball, “It’s never been a top priority for me.”
