Dodgers' Kiké Hernández Suggests MLB Teams Could Be Colluding in Free Agency

With several high-profile free agents still available one week after spring training games have started across Major League Baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers utilityman Enrique Hernández thinks there is some collusion happening among team owners in the sport.

Hernández said on Thursday's episode of Foul Territory TV, "I'm not going to say the C-word, but I think the C-word needs a capital C" in response to a question about how teams make calls and offers to free agents.

Hernández pointed to teams potentially using similar computer models to evaluate players that put a dollar value on their skill set, and they don't deviate from it.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Hernández continued to sound off on the state of free agency across MLB by calling it "terrible" when you have quality players still on the market at this point in the year:

"There's still a lot of really good quality baseball players, big leaguers that are more than capable of being everyday guys on a lot of teams, and the fact that they're still out there, it's a shame. It seems like a lot of the owners had an excuse in terms of the TV deal and things like that. It was a very weird offseason and it still is for some guys. It doesn't seem like things are picking up either for some of those guys, which is shameful."

Using MLB Trade Rumors' list of top 50 free agents, three of the top 10 players are still on the market. Cody Bellinger, who ranked second on the list, signed a three-year, $80 million deal to return to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

Reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Matt Chapman and Jordan Montgomery are the top unsigned free agents. They are all players that come with at least one significant concern, especially on a long-term contract, but there's no logical reason for them to be unemployed on March 1.

The problem with Hernández's speculation about collusion is it's virtually impossible to prove. There are some teams that refuse to spend money in free agency, citing various reasons like market size or, especially this offseason, uncertainty around the future of regional sports network contracts.

Hernández was able to get a deal done to return to the Dodgers this week. This will be his eighth season in Los Angeles, but his first full year with the club since 2020.