Free Agency: Good, Bad, or just Mid?

 I feel like if a team messes up in free agency, it will be more of a problem than messing up in the draft, especially with the salary cap involved. Especially with a set salary for rookies in the NFL. They still make a lot but nearly as much as a top free agent now. Also, probably a good time to talk about Free Agency since we might see star players making 100 million dollars a year soon. Don't know if it will be the MLB or the NBA but it's going to happen. Shohei Ohtani's 700 million dollar deal for 10 years proved it. Back in the day, players would play on the same team year to year unless the team traded or released the players. Only the teams decided where to sent the players or release them. Curt Flood who was an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 was traded to Philadelphia Phillies which he didn't want to go and he challenged the reserve clause. He took it all the way to the Supreme Court. Even though he lost, the reserve clause was removed in 1975 and pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally played without a contract that 1975 season and since slowly but surely other leagues followed suit and now we have free agency. How did that happen that those two pitchers played without a contract? That would not happened today. There's been players who have held out because they wanted more money despite been on contract. Pitcher Garrett Crochett recently refused to play for a contender in October unless the team would get him gave him an extension. Crochett ended up staying with the White Sox. I don't know about you, I rather go to a contender and risk it there than for the worst team in the league. I know people hate free agency especially fans of small-market teams and when it a handful of teams can afford the top players and probably hated because players get to move freely and seeing a player who came up with the team, play for the team for several years, and he's to another team. Probably should also say she because the WNBA and other women's professional leagues have free agency as well. Let's be honest, how many of us switch jobs and/or careers? If we can leave for the best offer should professional athletes? It sucks if you're a Rays or A's fan and trust me it sucks especially this trade deadline where I saw the Rays trade four players like Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes while their in the wild card and yes, the Rays were and still are however it's going to be hard now without their best players. Speaking of which, it also gives teams a dilemma of keeping the players in hopes of re-signing the player in question or trade the player for prospects, OK mostly for baseball. Not to mention, the teams that trade for the free agent in waiting are also taking a risk because they would only have them for a month or two, think Randy Johnson with the Houston Astros. Yes, Randy Johnson played for the Astros. A bad free agent signing could impact your team, think Anthony Rendon who signed a seven-year 245 million dollar deal with the Angels and it was one of the reasons why Shohei Ohtani left the Angels. Also, owner Artie Moreno bought in 2023's trade deadline and ended badly to the point he released most of the players he acquired like a week after he traded for them. A costly one has to be the Browns signing Andre Rison and the owner Art Modell had to get loans from banks to sign Rison and it didn't work out for a few reasons including the Browns moving from Cleveland to Baltimore to become the Ravens. It also be costly for a players if they get the best offer especially if the NFL when the team's scheme is different than the one from the previous team. Think quarterback Jeff Garcia with the new Browns. Also, I remember Carl Crawford signing a seven-year 142 142-million contract with the Red Sox and he was not the same player he was with the Rays. It's buyer beware. Yes, there have been success stories like Hardy Nickerson with the Buccaneers, Drew Brees with the Saints, to some extent Tom Brady with the Bucs, Reggie White with the Green Bay Packers, Lebron James with the Heat, among others. Free Agency is a risk but I'm sure you can that about a lot of things.