To borrow a line from one of the great (or awful, it’s open for debate) songs of the ’80s, the appropriately titled “Talk Talk” by…Talk Talk: “All you do to me is talk talk.”
In this case, “me” is actually we, as in us, fans of major league baseball, while the you in the lyrics are the players and agents that pump out reason after reason as to why they chose to sign with Team X as a free agent.
More often than not, it has nothing to do with fit, tradition or always wanting to play for a certain manager. More often than not, it’s all just talk. We know what the deal is: “It’s All About the Benjamins,” baby.
Money is the great equalizer in any negotiation, and when one team is offering more than another, it’s hard for a player or his agent to say no. We aren’t talking about a difference of a few hundred dollars—we’re talking millions.
That’s reason enough for most players to pack up their belongings, round up their families and head for greener pastures.
Before we dive into which pending free agents will be the highest paid at each position on the field, a few things to keep in mind.
- With one notable exception, we are operating under the assumption that all options for 2015 (player, team, mutual) will be exercised and, thus, keep those players off the market.
- We are more interested in how much a player will get than where that money is coming from. While we’ll touch on some potential landing spots for some, what team these players sign with is largely irrelevant for our purposes. This is about market value, nothing else.
- Recent deals for similar players, the amount of talent available at a given position and any speculation as to what a player is thought to be seeking all played a part in comprising their projected deals.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at who’ll be picking up the tab the first time they head out to dinner with their teammates in 2015.