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LOS ANGELES – Dodgers utility player Kike Hernandez has problems with how the MLB free agent market is being handled. And he made that clear on the “Foul Territory” podcast.
Hernández, who re-signed with Los Angeles on a one-year, $4 million deal Monday, told the hosts, “I’m not going to say the C-word, but I think the C-word needs a capital C.” That “C” word? Collusion. “The timing of the calls (with teams) were very similar,” Hernández said on the show. “The numbers were pretty much the same throughout.
The 32-year-old is under the belief that MLB franchises are all using the same algorithms to determine player’s value.
“I think the teams that are using these computer systems to project numbers, project salaries, they’re all using the same one and I think they all have the same password,” Hernández said. “So that’s how free agency is going, and it’s not just me.”
Hernández continued to express his frustration Thursday afternoon when speaking with reporters.
“There’s still a lot of really good quality baseball players – big leaguers that are more than capable of being everyday guys on a lot of teams – and the fact that they’re still out there, it’s a shame,” Hernández said. “… It was a very weird offseason and it still is for some guys. It doesn’t seem like things are picking up either for some of those guys, which is shameful.”
Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Chapman, and J.D. Martinez are four of the premier names remaining on the market. All four are Scott Boras’ clients, so perhaps the sluggish free agent market is simply a matter of Boras driving a hard bargain. That said, consistent major leaguers like Brandon Belt, Michael Lorenzen, Tommy Pham, and Michael A. Taylor are still unsigned and not Boras’ clients.
It’s nothing new for MLB. Former Twins starting pitcher Francisco Liriano echoed a similar stance back in 2018. That, of course, does not prove or even imply collusion. Collusion is a serious allegation and also extremely difficult to prove. So it’ll take more than Kike Hernandez complaining on a podcast for this story to get any real traction.
