The spring training for Major League Baseball has started. The key concern before the training was expenditure but now the issue has been sorted out. $1 billion have been spent in getting contracts with new players. This happened in the last 15 days.
Bryce Harper, who was an outfielder at all- star has signed 13 years contract with Philadelphia Phillies. It will cost the club$330 million. The deal was finalized on Thursday. Previous week, Manny Machado had signed a contract with San Diego Padres. The deal was sealed at $300 million for 10 years. Nolan Arenado has also resigned from Colorado Rockies. This was an end to 8 years old deal of $260 million. Outfielder Aaron Hicks have signed a contract with New York Yankees. This was a deal of 7 years and it will cost$70 million. Miles Mikolas, the baseball pitcher has signed contract with St. Louis Cardinals. This was a deal for 4 years and it will cost $68 million. Previously he was playing for San Diego Padres.
After sealing the deals, the next big challenge for MLB is the low attendance and long games. There is also huge gap between the rich and the poor teams. This in turn reduces the competitiveness.
In 2018, 8 big league teams encountered attendance loss in double digits; the top ranker was Miami Marlin with 52% attendance loss. This was normal because the club had given Giancarlo Stanton to New York Yankees and Christian Yelich to Milwaukee Brewers; these were the most important players for the club. This was a rebuilding process for the team.
The same technique will be followed by Houston Astros (2017 World Series Champion) and Chicago Cubs (2017 World Series Champion). San Diego Padres is also trying to try out a new strategy to break the poor performance record.