Two of the Washington Nationals鈥� most important players are free agents, despite efforts on the team鈥檚 part to avoid such a scenario.
Fresh off their World Series run, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg opted for free agency over potential extensions of team control and testing the open market this offseason.
Fans who don鈥檛 understand the inner workings of the professional sports labor market might balk at such a decision. For veterans of many courtroom battles working to establish free agency in professional sports over the last several decades, staying under contract when you have the ability to earn more for your abilities is a non-starter.
鈥湴粘蟊鸢疴�檚 absolutely no good argument for it 鈥� zero,鈥� Jim Quinn, author of the new book 鈥溾�� told 海角社区app in a recent interview. 鈥淚f I was representing a player, I would always tell them to explore the open market. They can always come back, if they want.鈥�
Quinn has an extensive personal history with this particular topic, representing all four top-level men鈥檚 professional sports鈥� players associations during his four decade legal career. His own stake in the battles began with the NBA鈥檚 fight for free agency in the 1970s.
His book chronicles each major twist and turn, back to the beginning, with the 21-minute strike ahead of the 1964 NBA All-Star Game, which forced union recognition by the owners.
That long history 鈥� along with a collection of behind-the-scenes moments he wanted to share 鈥� was the impetus for the project in the first place.
鈥淚 was thinking about these issues for a long time,鈥� said Quinn. 鈥淭here are a lot of good stories, some funny stuff, some interesting stuff.鈥�
In the 55 years since that first strike, the labor landscape has changed dramatically for professional athletes, but labor battles remain a major point of tension between players and owners.
鈥淔rankly, the ownership side often wanted to keep the fans in the dark on all of this,鈥� said Quinn. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a business. It鈥檚 no different from the entertainment business. It is the entertainment business, and a big chunk of it.鈥�
Still, even if he saw the potential for greater earnings, Quinn would never guessed how big.
鈥淣o way. If I had said, in 1975, 鈥業 think the average NBA salary would be $10 million,鈥� (colleague Larry Fleischer) would have had me shot.鈥�
And yet, even as pro sports have ballooned into this behemoth, and even as MLB rakes in record profits, teams have started spending less in recent offseasons. The MLBPA has made overtures at the idea of owner collusion, charges which .
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very difficult question,鈥� said Quinn, saying he didn鈥檛 know enough about the particulars to make a judgment. 鈥淥bviously there has been a slowdown to the signings at some level.鈥�
As MLB front offices have treated the luxury tax more like a hard salary cap, competitive, major market teams have started to consider the once-unthinkable: Trading their franchise players. Just this week, rumors of the Cubs trading Kris Bryant and the Red Sox trading Mookie Betts 鈥� players instrumental to their teams鈥� respective recent World Series titles 鈥� .
Meanwhile, outside of a couple top-tier free agents, teams have largely punted on heavy offseason spending, choosing profit margins over actual wins, pulling the sport into an existential (and, potentially, a labor) crisis.
鈥淏aseball鈥檚 young superstars are massively underpaid,鈥� said Quinn. 鈥淚 think there probably needs to be some sort of restructuring as to how the system works.鈥�
罢丑别谤别鈥檚 also the issue of minor league pay which, outside of those players on 40-man rosters or with big league service time, falls well shy of a living wage. Major League Baseball has floated the idea of , putting players out of work and shuttering community sports teams in small towns across the country.
Quinn said there鈥檚 a much simpler fix that doesn鈥檛 require such drastic measures.
鈥湴粘蟊鸢疴�檚 always a solution, it just means that the owners make less money,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the rational solution.鈥�
Less simple is giving the minor leaguers a voice, much less a seat at the table to bargain for more respectable wages. The players鈥� union is currently structured for Major League players only.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very complicated labor issue as to whether or not minor leaguers are in the bargaining unit,鈥� said Quinn.
But back to the big league level, and the Nats. When Strasburg signed his extension it was a bit of a surprise, given the thin free agent pitching market that upcoming offseason.
For a pitcher who already had one Tommy John surgery in the rearview, $175 million was no small guarantee. Now, with $100 million left on the last four years of his deal, coming off a World Series MVP, his open-market value is greater.
That makes this the perfect time to test the market, even with another opt-out built into his contract after next season.
鈥淥bviously when that deal was originally negotiated, it was important to Strasburg and his agent to be able to test the open market at some point,鈥� said Quinn.
Rendon, meanwhile, reportedly turned down an extension offer shortly before he became a free agent, opting for the open market just like Bryce Harper did last year.
Both Strasburg and Rendon are available to bid their next contracts around the league and choose the offer that suits them best. Wherever they land, they weren鈥檛 afraid to take the advice that Gene Upshaw gave Quinn back in the early 1990s when he faced off against the NFL, which left an impression he used as the title of his book: Don鈥檛 be afraid to win.
