Black Friday fervor did not reach the major leagues. Like the rest of the offseason to date, teams essentially were putting off their big shopping for a later date.
At this time last year, the three biggest free agent contracts for position players already had been inked — Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez with the Red Sox, plus Russell Martin with the Blue Jays. It was four of the top five if the Tigers’ retention of Victor Martinez was included.
The Mets also already had signed Michael Cuddyer for two years, and the White Sox had begun their offseason flurry by reaching multi-year deals with Zach Duke and Adam LaRoche.