Rejoice baseball fans. The dark days of winter are slowly but surely passing, and spring training is almost upon us. Yu Darvish is a Yankee, Eric Hosmer is a Padre, Jake Arrieta has joined the Rockies, while JD Martinez has bolstered the Red Sox lineup. Every free agent has signed, and all is well in the world of baseball. No? What do you mean there are still over 100 major leaguers searching for a job? They are starting their own spring camp in Florida? What happened?

About two months ago, I wrote an article predicting where each of the top five free agents would end up for the 2018 season. At this point in a normal universe, I would probably be looking back and questioning why I ever said Mike Moustakas would be an Angel. But apparently, we are living in a parallel dimension because pitchers and catchers are on the cusp on reporting and not one of those men has a team.

The MLB offseason is usually one filled with chaos. Players anticipate moving on from their current club to join a contender or for a hefty pay day. But this year has been unlike any other in recent memory. Many people blamed Angels rookie Shohei Otani and Yanks slugger Giancarlo Stanton for clogging the market early on. Most experts said that the market prices would not be established until these two players founds their new homes. But this has turned out to not be the case. In fact, there have been a multitude of trades this offseason that have already shaken the landscape of the game. From Marlins’ fire sale to the Pirates clearing the clubhouse of veterans, trades this winter have left fans far from disappointed. (Well, except for those in Miami and Pittsburgh.) So why are all-stars still unemployed?

Well, there are two likely reasons that actually seem to contradict each other. The first is that teams are looking to improve without having to spend lavishly on players in their 30s. Many organizations feel that they have talent in their farm systems that could lead them to success in years to come. Watching the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros win the past two World Series titles with cheap, young talent has other franchises considering a similar approach. Several teams are teetering on being forced to pay the MLB’s luxury tax which mandates the league to collect a certain amount of money for each dollar spent over the threshold (set at any amount above $195 million for 2017). Unfortunately in today’s market, it’s hard to find the perfect balance. Another reason why clubs may be holding back is because next year’s star-studded free agent class. Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw, Josh Donaldson and Dallas Keuchel are all part of a lengthy and impressive list of players who will be available. With all these men off the books, teams might not be willing to open up their checkbooks until 2019, leaving the current guys out of luck.

Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, current free agents will hold their own spring training camp in Bradenton, Florida from February 14th through March 4th. The goal is to have most players signed and with their clubs once the final day commences. But it has been discussed that the camp could be extended until the end of the month. Former Astros manager Bo Porter will be the lead supervisor of the facilities as players are forbidden from bringing in personal trainers and coaches. Although rare, this is not the first-time players have “boycotted” spring training while unsigned. The same event occurred in 1995 when free agents located to Homestead, Florida for their own skills showcase.

As the situation continues to boil, I must take the side of the players. Teams have plenty of money to offer these guys even one-year deals for a simple trial run. Instead of focusing on tanking and not wanting to spend for talent, teams should actually be pouncing on the current market with quality players being forced to take middling deals. As the season approaches, it will be interesting to see which ballclubs take advantage and which miss out on the action.