The Padres have agreed to a deal with free-agent catcher Martín Maldonado, sources tell @TheAthletic.

— Dennis Lin (@dennistlin) January 16, 2025

I thought Dusty was with San Fran?

I don't think baseball needs to have a salary cap compared to other spots, but ignoring challenges of collective bargaining for the moment, one thing that would immediately make baseball better would be if there max deals like the NBA - not necessarily in AAV, but in length.

Make it where at any given time, a player is eligible for a five year contract. Make it wear teams compete by throwing crazy salaries at guys if they so wish, but take away stupid 10 and 13 year contacts. And if a team and player want to renegotiate or extend said deal each year to push out further, they can. But at no time can you be under contract for more than 5 years out.

The length is what scares smart teams off more than the money. And the teams that do sign them always end up with albatrosses where the player is loathed by fans late in their careers.

Imagine how much different the offseason would look if Soto, Burnes, Bregman, Alonso, etc. were all eligible for five year max contracts and were simply competing to see who would offer the highest salary. The Mets could see if anyone would top a 5 year/$255 deal for Soto.

Honestly, I bet the players would end up happier in the long-run as well. They could still make a ton of money, but neither side is pinned down in a bad relationship for a decade.

This whole situation has to hurt Boras' reputation. Last offseason two of his clients had to wait a long time to sign albeit for fairly good offers but the market isn't showing that for Bergman.

JDUB08AG said:

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More players need to be humbled. I'm sorry it happened to him but it should happen more often.

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Yep. Players need to realize that the market is a fickle beast. This is a major league with only a small number of teams in the running. It's very risky to just chase money while dicking around the team that gave you the original opportunity (and had a very good competitive deal on the table....for what? One more year?)

Don't feel bad for Bregman, he got paid generational money already. He was just trying to squeeze out every last dime and potentially hurt our moves this offseason. We had to move on.

Beat40 said:

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I think they shouldn't have been surprised since you said not only did the Astros make one public offer, but came back with an improved offer.

They miscalculated with the Astros and have played everything else since then terribly. He's known Crane for years and for some reason thought he could bluff Crane or change his mind.

My opinion is he needs to sober up, face the reality of the situation, and accept the best offer from the best situation soon because I think it's going to get worse the longer he lets this draw out.

I honestly think he's getting something like 3/80-90, 4/110-120, or 5/125-150 contract at this point, which the 4 year deal being more likely.

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They might have banked on more fan pressure to
resign Bregman. I think the leak of the 6/156 really dowsed any fan pressure as most everyone thinks that is a really fair deal.

"I think he's a lock for the Hall of Fame."@astros legend Jose Altuve notched his 11th career appearance on The Shredder's #Top10RightNow! pic.twitter.com/jqB061Ms0b

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 17, 2025

If Altuve played in NY they wouldn't be debating whether he's a HOFer. The debate would be is he the best second baseman of all time.

😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/lf0aE7fItE

— The Disrespected Trucker (@DisrespectedThe) January 16, 2025