There’s been a lot of talk today about collusion. Multiple agents have made statements to the effect that there’s something fishy going on.
The conditions in MLB are always favorable for possible collusion to suppress the value of free agent contracts. There’s a relatively small number of participants. They generally know one another very well. They’re almost always talking to one another. They meet in person frequently. They have a press voracious for content and thus a willing participant in price signalling via “leaks”.
One of the main arguments against collusion this offseason is that teams are simply doing what is rational under a collective bargaining agreement that punishes excessive spending and rewards “tanking”.