The solace of financial flexibility in the wake of the Manny Machado mistake largely evaporated when Nolan Arenado decided to accept a contract extension with the Colorado Rockies a week later.
A couple more nine-figure deals Tuesday made it even harder to imagine where the White Sox will be able to spend this money they supposedly have, at least in ways that apply to position players in their physical primes.
Mike Trout joined Arenado in removing himself from the free agent board over the next two seasons. Trout, who was set to hit the marketafter 2020, signed a 12-year, $430 million deal that is effectively a 10-year, $360 million contract extension. At least we now know Bryce Harper wasn't going to make much of an impact as a recruiter.
While he's not in the same world -- he won't become a free agent until 2023 -- Alex Bregman also got paid on Tuesday. The Astros handed him a five-year, $100 million extension that covers what would've been his first two post-arb seasons.
What's notable about Bregman is that he'd previously expressed discontent about the negotiations over his contract renewal. Houston's front office apparently found a way to smooth it over, and in the matter of a week.
Whether they were going to be free agents next year or four years from now, Arenado, Trout and Bregman show the folly in relying on future classes to hold up. Right now, Mookie Betts as the only transcendent position player untethered through the end of his initial team control period over the next two years. If the Sox couldn't keep up with the likes of the Padres, their odds of landing somebody like Betts might not even be worth posting.
Remove Betts from the table, and the market doesn't get populated until after the 2021 season, with Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa and Javier Baez set to cash in. That's three full seasons and a new CBA from now, which makes such speculation an even bigger waste of time. If Bregman's deal is the shape of labor relations to come, the Sox are going to have to rely on the prospects they've already acquired to get the job done.
