Bryce Harper, Manny Machado headline 2018 free agency
LOS ANGELES - When he signed a $93-million, three-year contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, Clayton Kershaw opted not to test a free-agent market headlined by a pair of younger generational talents in Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.
Not that Kershaw isn't a generational talent himself. But he chose the safer deal, one that did not test the theory that he was in decline and therefore not worth as much on a yearly basis as younger free-agent pitchers.
That was good news for everyone else when the free-agent sweepstakes began Saturday.
This is not the 2018 free-agent class MLB agents and team executives envisioned. It could still produce a pair of 26-year-old stars who sign long-term contracts worth more
