Twenty-nine baseball teams had the opportunity to acquire one of the best pitchers in the world for little more than a handful of lottery tickets, and only one jumped at it. If the frozen free-agent market this winter weren't enough of a sign that Major League Baseball has a problem with anti-competitiveness, the trade of Yu Darvish to the San Diego Padres sent a clear reminder that inaction isn't just an on-field problem.
The Padres' aggressiveness in dealing for Darvish and former Cy Young winner Blake Snell over a 24-hour period stands in stark contrast to the vast majority of the rest of the sport, which has been hamstrung by an ownership class using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to pare payroll.