This doesn't happen every spring.
The Washington Nationals just signed pitcher Stephen Strasburg to a seven-year, $175 million deal that will lock up the hard-throwing right-hander at least through the 2019 season, depending on whether he exercises the reported rolling opt-out clause in the contract.
It's a little early in the season for that, especially when you consider that superagent Scott Boras has seldom been one to pass up the opportunity to take a walk-year player into the free-agent market.
The decision to get Strasburg signed now might be another sign that the assumptions about the market for baseball's top potential free agents have changed, which could impact when young superstars Manny Machado and Bryce Harper get the megacontracts they almost certainly will command and just how much those deals will cost.