Outside The Confines: Free agents facing a long, cold winter

As we get deeper and deeper into the offseason, breaking baseball news becomes less frequent, but the one main story on everyone’s mind right now continues to be the fraught free agent market. In the past, a slow-moving free agent season was often seen as a sign of a cheap front office unwilling to spend.

Now, to hear it from the owners, it’s a byproduct of the financial difficulties faced by the unusual 2020 season with no fans in seats. It could also be an excuse for teams to look at the low-cost method that saw the Rays make it all the way to the World Series.

Whatever the real reason for it, it’s poised to be an ice cold offseason, which doesn’t bode well for all the players hoping to sign lucrative long-term deals.

With Winter Meetings also cancelled, the movement of the offseason is going to be unlike any other winter we’ve seen.

• The Mets are entering a new era, and Craig Edwards has five pieces of advice for new owner Steve Cohen.
• Emma Baccellieri has high hopes that Cohen might be ushering in a less “Metsy” time period fo the Mets.
• Postseason hero Randy Arozarena’s story may soon be headed for the big screen, reports Amanad N’Duka.
• Some players would be wise to jump on their qualifying offers, while others may want to test free agency waters, writes Buster Olney.
• Michael Baumann looks at the top 49 free agents, because top 50 lists are overdone.
• Eno Sarris narrows it down further by spotlighting five interesting free agents available this year. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Paul Casella has the complete list of Silver Slugger winners including some unknowns like a kid named Mike Trout.
• Do yourself a favor and follow this account.

• In a dark story, Nathan Fenno looks at the conviction of Brandon Martin, a former Rays prospect who was arrested for a triple murder than included his father and uncle.
• Kevin Gausman is one of six players considering a qualifying offer, and Jake Mailhot looks at this difficult choice.
• Sam Miller looks at one amazing moment for each team from the 2020 season.
• Baseball BBQ puts together a time capsule for MLB in 2020.
• Brian Cohn believes this offseason is going to come down to a battle between MLB and MLBPA.
• SI makes some seriously bold predictions about where certain free agents could land this year.
• There have been recent allegations about pension fraud regarding the Orioles, and Dan Connolly and Evan Drellich look into the story. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Jay Jaffe looks at the chilly offseason that we’re entering.
• Here’s a complete breakdown of all the nominees for the various BBWAA season awards.
• Sam Alipour talks to Cody Bellinger about his excitement following the World Series win.
• Bellinger is also featured in a new video game.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.