Casual baseball fans are most concerned with the future homes of Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, but Justin Verlander's Monday tweet addressed a broader concern -- about the many, many players who are unsigned.
100 or so free agents left unsigned. System is broken. They blame "rebuilding" but that's BS. You're telling me you couldn't sign Bryce or Manny for 10 years and go from there? Seems like a good place to start a rebuild to me. 26-36 is a great performance window too.
— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) February 11, 2019
There are good, accomplished players and interested teams still apparently in a stalemate over what the clubs are willing to pay and what the players believe to be fair-market value.
Among them:
1. Clay Buchholz, starting pitcher. His career has been littered with injuries and he had more last year, but when he was on the mound, he threw well for Arizona -- a 2.01 ERA in 16 starts, covering 98⅓ innings. He allowed just nine homers and 22 walks, striking out 81. He'll never been mistaken for a plow horse, the sort of starter you can pencil in for 32 starts and 180-200 innings, but Buchholz does have value.