You’ll sometimes hear teams pooh-pooh the idea of signing free agents during a rebuild. If a player’s not going to be part of the next winning roster, why bother, the argument goes.First, there’s nothing stopping a rebuilding team from pursuing a top-of-the-market free agent. The San Diego Padres pulled the trigger on Manny Machado, and the Jays could have easily done so too, figuring that at some point in the next decade, they’re going to contend.
But the biggest reason to call BS on not signing impactful free agents during a rebuild is that the entire concept of rebuilding is at its core just an elaborate cover that sports owners can use to pocket tens of millions of dollars in savings when they choose not to spend real money on salaries.
That’s why the Blue Jays, like every other team, should have pursued and landed some real talent on the open market last winter, if for no other reason than to give fans a more compelling product to watch. Freddy Galvisbefore the last Hot Stove season even started, and he’s proven to be a good find for the Jays.
Determined to avoid the mistakes of the past, teams now obsess over actuarial tables. Players over 30 years old, once rewarded with rich, multi-year deals in free agency, are now deemed terrifying. The result is total avoidance by many teams, lowball offers by others.