
Fans and players bracing for baseball strike. What will it mean for free agent players not yet signed?
With the lockout in the Major Leagues, the so-called transaction freeze will be put into effect, which implies that players such as Puerto Rican free agents Carlos Correa and Eddie Rosario are suspended until further notice.

Carlos Correa, thus far without a contract (Photo Bill Menzel, Latinosports.com)
Both the team owners and the Players Association had until midnight yesterday, Wednesday to reach an agreement on the new collective agreement, or otherwise the lockdown would be applied in which all types of movement are suspended. contractual between team and players.
If an agreement is not reached by midnight on Wednesday, the representatives of Correa, Rosario and other free agents will not be able to negotiate with any organization or vice versa.
Francisco Márquez, one of the Puerto Rican agents active in baseball, explained to El Nuevo Día part of the process that is established under a lockout.
“The first thing to note is that if there is a lockout -as expected- Major League transactions will be frozen,” said the Puerto Rican agent.
But what is a MLB transaction specifically and what does it entail?

Edwin Rosario, another top player without a contract. Photo: Rosario Instagram)
“That involves a player who is on the MLB 40 roster or who was recently there. For example, Kris Bryant is not on a major league roster or in the 40s because he is a free agent right now, but he was. In other words, if he has not signed by the time the lockout begins, you cannot even contact him ”.
Bryant’s case is similar to that of the Puerto Ricans Correa and Rosario, and those of the fifty players who are in the free agent market.
Quite simply, all the negotiations that these players were having are stopped until everything returns to normal.
“You can’t take a player off the roster in a lockout, you can’t make changes between teams. Everything is frozen. Just wait for the lockout to be lifted ”, specified Márquez.
“Once the lockdown is lifted, the teams and players will be given a period to make the transactions that they couldn’t make during the lockout. There are still going to be players without jobs and teams with needs and vacancies that they have to fill ”.
