Night Owl Cards

We're just three months shy of the 40th anniversary of the advent of free agency in major league baseball. No matter what you may think of that development and the consequences over the following decades, you cannot deny Marvin Miller's impact and how he brought the basic concepts of organized labor to MLB players. Today, on Labor Day, I'd like to go back to that time of early free agency, specifically the first real group of free agents. Free agency began in December 1975 when arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally, who had requested to be free agents. From that point, players were allowed to seek out better contracts from other teams. The offseason of 1976 featured the first group of genuine free agents. And 25 of those players signed new deals with other clubs. It was a brand new world. Players were paid record salaries. Teams who had little hope to contend, like the Angels, Padres, White Sox and Rangers, suddenly looked li...

The Dodgers have shown Takashi Saito the door (he seems pretty happy about it, doesn't he?) I'll miss him. With Saito a free agent, that leaves Jonathan Broxton in the closer's role. I'm not completely comfortable with that, mostly because we Dodger fans have been spoiled with Saito and Eric Gagne the last five years, and Broxton can't match their kind of day-in, day-out domination. Broxton probably just needs another year of maturity. I think he'll be all right. Meanwhile, while the Yankees are throwing cash at pending disasters , the Dodgers still need a starting pitcher, a set-up man for Broxton, a shortstop, and Manny to come to his senses. That's a lot of work to do, considering the winter meetings are done and L.A. doesn't want to give up much of its talent trade-wise. So since the trade route doesn't look good at the moment, here's a look at what free agents are still out there in each key category: Starting pitcher: Tony Armas, ...