Thread by @EugeneFreedman

It's really an early market. The lockout tactic is making this happen. It's really the opposite of what it was intended to do. It was supposed to whipsaw the players who didn't have contracts, so that they put pressure on the Union to make a deal. But, so many players are 1/

https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/1465138688724283399

signing early - those near the top and many in the middle of the market, that it is both protecting them long-term, and fixing club expenditures for 2022 ahead of the new CBA. The very top FA players won't have anything to worry about. They will get their big contracts for 2/

long terms regardless of what the CBA provides. Correa and Seager and Freeman have nothing to worry about. The guys who will have trouble signing will have the same trouble regardless. The extensions for guys like Buxton and Franco also take the new CBA out of the discussion. 3/

Different CBT, no issue. Different FA compensation rules, no issue. These are two middle payroll teams laying out long-term deals. They don't care what the future brings. I suspect they know that the new CBA will be closer to the current CBA than any proposal MLB has briefed 4/

them on or told them about where they want to wind up. I'm not saying there won't be changes. There will be changes, but the CBT threshold will likely go up (it definitely won't go down). FA will be nearly the same. Maybe a different eligibility, but not 29 1/2. Close to 6 5/

seasons of service time. The arbitration rules may change a bit around the fringes, but it will likely be years 2+-FA. It won't be a formula and percentage pay based on some "perfect" number. It will be built on comps and salary growth. Club compensation for FA losses will 6/

exist in all likelihood, but they won't be as severe as they are now for the majority of players. Neither clubs nor players like that, as much as it may hold down player values. It doesn't work for anyone as it is, except for a grand scale suppression of salaries. On an 7/

individual club basis it doesn't work when you want to sign a FA, unless they are a star. You won't read about it publicly, but the clubs are not happy with long rebuilds of their competitors who just pocket revenue sharing money in the meanwhile.

Anyway, this is a long 8/

thread to say that the individual clubs are on to the BS of a lockout as much as many of us on BaseballTwitter. And, the clubs have taken a lot of the air out of the balloon already. There will be even more signings over the next few days. Manfred has to be really upset. /end