Nobody is boycotting shit. Players are angry and I get it. Can you imagine the shit they're getting from their wives right now? They need to find a place to live, kids in scholl, etc., etc. So some players and agents are blowing off steam. The agents promised players something they couldn't deliver. I do side slightly on the side of labor in the quagmire, but I see the owner's side too. This was a perfect storm with next year's FA class causing teams like the Yankees and Dodgers to spend less, only 2/3 of the teams actually competing and a correction for not-quite-superstar players all happening at once. The owners probably shouldn't have held quite this hard a line, but guys like JD Martinez expecting $210 mil didn't help either. Now you have the situation where no one wants to set the market. If Darvish signs Arrieta will have to sign quickly or teams will start turning to Cobb and Lynn and agents start to lose whatever leverage they have left. When guys do start to sign the market will move fast but no one wants to be the guy that lowers the value of other players and don't think the MLBPA isn't cautioning against this. The guys really getting hurt are guys like Jon Jay who had been convinced someone would give him a chance to start this year, but why would anyone sign Jay right now when so many players are still available? Darvish, Arrieta, Martinez and Hosmer will all get paid handsomely, they just won't get the years and the AAV, they'll get one or the other probably the AAV although Hosmer's supposed two seven year offers bely that to some degree, but I tend to think that's just an anomaly of the market if it's even true.
To the point of this post though, why the fuck would you just give up on signing Darvish now? Sure he's waiting but he's waiting because he hopes more teams get in and drive up his price which likely isn't happening but it's completely understandable why he would try. The Cubs probably have the best shot of him as any and maybe even at four years. If Milwaukee has a five year offer in as rumored the only reason he hasn't taken that is because he doesn't want to go there or is thinking someone else will come in at six years. That puts the Cubs in the driver seat, they probably know they can get him at five years but if they wait they could get him at four, so you wait. He's still the best option and I guarantee Arrieta is not signing before Darvish regardless. Would the Cubs be OK with Cobb or Lynn? Sure, for the regular season but then Q, Lester and Hendricks all have to perform and Alzolay has to be ready to pitch a playoff game in October. It's do-able but not predictable. So they wait. What else would they do?
