Report: MLB Free Agents Considering 'Spring Training' for Unsigned Players

Major League Baseball free agents are reportedly considering a plan to band together to form their own version of spring training while waiting for better offers from clubs.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported Friday that "frustration on the players' side is growing" with MLB front offices unwilling to hand many veterans lucrative long-term contracts. "Neither party seems particularly inclined to blink," leading those on the open market to consider alternatives to prepare for the 2018 season.

Starting pitchers Yu Darvish and Jake Arrieta, first baseman Eric Hosmer, outfielder J.D. Martinez and closer Greg Holland are among the most notable names still unsigned with spring training two weeks away.

While those players would have been considered game-changing additions worthy of monster contracts in previous years, discussions this offseason have "slowed to a crawl," per Passan.

Prominent agent Scott Boras told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via ESPN.com) this week that MLB's inactivity in allowing teams to tank seasons in order to acquire high draft picks and top prospects was akin to the Black Sox scandal involving the 1919 Chicago White Sox.

"We kicked people out of the game when they tried to not win," he said. "We have to get rid of the noncompetitive cancer. We can't go to our fanbases and sell the promise of losing to win later. That is destructive to our sport because it has removed one-third of the competition."

Alas, with the Houston Astros successfully using that strategy to build a World Series-winning roster, more clubs are going to follow that blueprint moving forward. That creates fewer teams battling for the available free agents and thus less leverage for their agents in negotiations.

Discussions over a potential free-agent spring training suggest players aren't confident there will be a sudden rush of signings over the next few weeks.