2021 MLB Free Agents: Rumors and Predictions for Top Available Players

The Major League Baseball lockout has reached the two-week mark, and free agents are in a holding pattern. There was a flurry of signings just before the work stoppage, though there may have been more behind the spending spree than just locking up players early.

According to ESPN's Kiley McDaniel, some agents viewed early surge as a political tactic for the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

"The majority of them believed that the owners front-loaded their big contracts before the lockout to combat the MLBPA's argument about clubs pocketing revenues and being anticompetitive," McDaniel wrote. "These agents believe that teams will go back to being tighter with spending when the CBA is…