Let's examine why MLB top free agents prefer to play in the United States.
Is Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro really to blame for the lack of elite free agents with massive contracts wanting to come to Canada?
As a Toronto Blue Jays fan let me be the first to tell you how disappointed I am in this clubs inability to sign really good baseball players.
The latest whiff was the best available starting pitcher on the market in Corbin Burnes.
When I went to bed last night Toronto was the frontrunner and when I woke up this morning Burnes signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Blue Jays had the largest offer on the table followed by the San Francisco Giants and surprising to all in the industry Burnes chose to sign in Arizona.
But is it really that surprising? Burnes signed a 6-year $210 million contract with an opt out in 2026.
We as fans do not know the full details of the offer the Jays or Giants had in their deals, for instance did they have an opt out after the first year?
All we know is they had the largest offers, which isn't always the be all end all in complicated deals, especially with a Boras client.
Corbin Burnes choosing the Arizona Diamondbacks isn't that surprising when all things are considered.
First off Burnes lives in Scottsdale Arizona which is about twenty minutes from Chase field.
Which means he can spend more time with his family and friends.
While choosing to take less money to play in Arizona, he will pocket more in the end due to much higher taxes in California which also so happens to be his home state.
And if he doesn't like the direction the Diamondbacks are going he can opt out after the first year and become a free agent again.
Sounds like a sweet deal to me. Who could blame him really?
As far as the Toronto Blue Jays are concerned it's in a whole other country which is far away from family and friends, you have to deal with border crossings, a much tougher travel schedule, and the taxes are even higher than in California.
So even if you offset the taxes by overpaying for his services, there is still the inconvenience of the aforementioned reasons.
Lets talk about Teoscar Hernandez, another swing and miss from this front office.
While the initial acquisition was of Hernandez from the Houston Astros in 2017 for Francisco Lariano and Nori Aoki was a genius move on Atkins part.
It may be the same reason Atkins undervalued Teoscar when he traded him to the Mariners for Erik Swanson and pitching prospect Adam Macko.
With that being said Hernandez liked it in Toronto for the 6 years he was here, and probably felt slighted to be so undervalued and traded by Atkins.
That would definitely be the fault of this front office.
When Teoscar became a free agent and in control of his own destiny, he chose to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which also has high taxes but not as high as in Canada.
It should be noted that Shohei Ohtani (another Atkins whiff) signed that year as well and who wouldn't want to play with Showtime under the Friday night lights in Chavez Ravine.
I can just imagine the conversations Shohei and Teo had about their dealings with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Also the fact that the Dodgers practically field an all-star team every season makes the Dodgers an attraction for any free agent looking for a payday and a strong desire to win it all.
Even with the fact that he and Vladimir Guerrero Jr are best friends and work out together in the off season, is it that surprising that Teoscar Hernandez wanted to return to Tinseltown?
It also makes you wonder where Vladdy stands on this topic knowing what he knows and his past dealings with Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro.
That being said about Shapiro and Atkins, I must admit in a way they are handcuffed from the get go compared to the rest of the front offices around baseball.
I'm not defending this front office by any means, however they do have a much harder job than the other 29 teams executives because of travel, being in a different country and most of all the high taxes.
In an previous article written by my colleague Dan McPeake, Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin (also a Canadian) had their tax problems with the CRA, and had to go to court.
In the end they won their case, but I mean who needs that aggravation right?
Sure this front office has made some bonehead moves, but there are reasons ballplayers wont come to Canada to play and the biggest reason is taxes.
In order to do so you have to massively overpay to attract players like for instance George Springer. Was Springer worth $150 million in 2020 at his age?
Probably not, but that's what they had to do to get him to Canada when a handful of other teams wanted his services too.
Sure you can trade for young talented players like Daulton Varsho and Andres Gimenez to make your starting lineup better, however many of MLB's elite players have enough service time who also have no-trade clauses, and can chose where they will go.
Here's is a list of 50 players (95% Free Agents) in no particular order, who signed on the dotted line in the month of December alone.
Some of whom the Blue Jays aggressively went after only to sign none of them, with the exception of the Gimenez trade with their old friends in Cleveland.
� Juan Soto
� Corbin Burnes
� Teoscar Hernandez
� Cody Bellinger
� Josh Naylor
� Willy Adames
� Blake Snell
� Walker Buehler
� Gleybor Torres
� Luis Severino
� Gary Sanchez
� Andrew McCutchen
� Joc Pederson
� Carlos Santana
� Jesus Lazardo
� Nathaniel Lowe
� Jose Trevino
� Paul GoldSchmidt
� Devin Williams
� Jordan Romano
� Patrick Sandoval
� Gio Urshela
� Jake Burger
� Kyle Tucker
� Tommy Edman
� Frankie Montas
� Mathew Boyd
� Kyle Higashioka
� Arnold's Chapman
� Danny Jansen
� Shane Bieber
� Clay Holmes
� Tyler O'Niell
� Michael Conforto
� Alex Cobb
� Mike Tauchman
� Max Fried
� Nathan Eovaldi
� Garrett Crotchet
� Jonathan Loaisiga
� Nestor Cortes
� Isaac Peredes
� Jeffrey Springs
� Tomoyuki Sogano
� Griffin Canning
� Mike Soroka
� Max Kepler
� Patrick Sandoval
� Christian Walker
� Sean Manaea
I'm not sure what the answer here is to make Canada more attractive to elite ball players via trade or free agency.
Is the answer in the form of a federal tax break for MLB players in order to level the playing field with the other 29 American teams?
Perhaps, but some might say why should millionaire baseball players get a tax break when John and Jane Q have to pay taxes in full?
Would a new regime at the helm of the Blue Jays front office who can think outside of the box be the answer? Probably not.
All I know is that something has to give in order for the Blue Jays to compete with the rest of MLB.
Even if Rogers Corp fires Shapiro and Atkins, the Toronto Blue Jays will still have the same problem going forward with a new regime.
You be the judge.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 28 | 404 ANSWERS Let's examine why MLB top free agents prefer to play in the United States. What is the Answer to attract elite ball players to Canada? | ||
| Tax Break | 120 | 29.7 % |
| New Front Office | 249 | 61.6 % |
| Better Accomadations | 4 | 1 % |
| Other | 31 | 7.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
