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The winter of the epic contract: How decade-plus MLB megadeals suddenly became a thing

Related Topics: Trea Turner, Kiley McDaniel

Christmas is still ahead of us, and yet the baseball industry has already spent in record numbers and signed away most of the best available players. Twenty-four of the top 25 free agents, as ranked by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel in early November, have already chosen new teams, signing deals totaling close to $2.8 billion.

But it isn't just the amount of money that is jarring -- it's the length of time teams are willing to pay it.

In the history of MLB free agency, only four players have received deals that have extended beyond 10 years -- and three of those came this month.