Welcome to “Stare-down Week.” That’s how one general manager characterized this week as baseball gets midway through the third month of one of the deadest free agent markets this side of the collusion years.
“It’s to the point now where both sides are staring each other down this week,” the GM said, referring to teams and agents. “Over the holidays, for the first time I can recall, people just weren’t calling. Things are usually quiet then, but it just shut down because up until then it was more quiet than usual. Now I feel like by the end of this week or early next week, it’s time for somebody to blink.