On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick discusses the state of the free-agent market as it pertains to the San Francisco Giants. The market overall has been quite inflated so far, particularly for starting pitchers. Ben explores the numbers behind the inflated prices: years, average annual value, and total guaranteed money are all up across the free-agent market.

However, when we look at the contracts given out to Brandon Belt and Anthony DeSclafani (and when we add the expected contract for Alex Wood), the Giants' signings look among the most reasonable in the sport. Their total years would come in below the predicted years. The total money would come in for less than the total predicted money. The AAV would be slightly inflated, but looks mild compared to what we're seeing across the league. Ben explains why he believes signing players to market value deals or below-market deals is important for teams.

Finally, Ben discusses the impending expiration of the collective bargaining agreement and the lockout that is likely to follow. That deadline is fast approaching, and we may see a flurry of activity between now and then, with the holiday behind us and the deadline only a few days ahead. Ben wonders what will happen with the Giants, and whether they'll have official deals with Wood and perhaps Alex Cobb by that time. He also talks about the big win for Minor League rights, with MLB finally agreeing to supply housing to all Minor League players (with some exceptions for players making sufficient money) beginning in 2022.

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