Baseball America reports that, as expected, the start of the next period of international free agent signings will be pushed back from July 2 to January 15 of 2021. With the coronavirus pandemic, international travel has been highly restricted, and MLB scouting has been suspended since the end of May. However, while clubs haven’t been able to see players in action recently, that’s not necessarily the reason for the signing date to be pushed back so far. With top prospects, clubs often have informal agreements with players years before they’re officially eligible to sign.
Rather, as has dictated so many of MLB’s decisions of late, the reason is financial.