In an offseason that was supposed to be dominated by headlines around the mega-contracts for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, things have been pretty quiet. Granted, there are only a handful of teams that could afford players of that financial magnitude, but it’s hardly the arms race their free agency would have been a decade ago.
Budget is a part of that equation of course, but the other significant factor is that teams are learning that long term investments rarely work out for the best. The Blue Jays have been criticized for years for their conservative approach, and their former five year limit on free agent contracts, but it’s also possible they may have been ahead of their time with that line of thinking.