Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press
PHOENIX — Maybe the faucets were just a little rusty. Spring training games are well underway, but, finally, baseball has opened up its money spigot.
After a winter notable for a sluggish free-agent market that still includes a handful of prominent unsigned players, cash is now flowing to the major leagues’ top stars. On Thursday, Bryce Harper became the latest in a string of players to set a new salary standard, reaching a free-agent deal with the Philadelphia Phillies for 13 years and $330 million, the most ever guaranteed to a baseball player.