Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales remains unsigned a week before the 2014 MLB season kicks off, but reports indicated that both players will not rush their decision to sign with a new team.
Agent Scott Boras told ESPN that Drew and Morales will not follow that path taken by Ervin Santana and Nelson Cruz, who settled for one-year deals just to get into Spring Training camps, receiving offers that were lower than their initial asking price.
According to Boras, Drew and Morales, who both turned down qualifying offers from their respective teams in November last year are willing to wait until June before signing with a new team.
Both players are tied up with draft compensation, which means that signing teams will have to surrender their highest draft pick to the player's previous team.
Boras indicated that the draft compensation are shying teams away from making lucrative offers to Drew and Morales, and this is the reason why they are planning to wait until June when they will no longer have draft-pick compensation attached to them.
"The system they've been dealt has basically prevented them from free agency," Boras said on the qualifying-offer system. "They want to make sure about their next step, whatever that will be. It means either signing a long-term contract now -- and we're still taking offers on those -- or a number of other prospects that could occur after the season starts or in June, after the draft happens."
Santana, who was one of the big-name free agents on the market this offseason, was also tied up with draft-pick compensation.
The 31-year-old pitcher was initially looking for a $100-million deal, but interested teams were unwilling to pay the price due to the draft-pick compensation, which made the 10-year-veteran settle with a one-year, $14.1 million contract with the Atlanta Braves.
Cruz, who turned down a $14.1-million qualifying offer from the Texas Rangers four months ago, also faced the same dilemma before opting to accept a one-year, $8 million contract from the Baltimore Orioles.
Boras said that the current system should be abolished because of it is hurting the stock of players, who worked hard to improve their chances of getting a lucrative deal when they hit free agency.
"The integrity of the game is at hand here," Boras said. "Clubs are refusing to employ premium free agents for their true market value because of an artificial, collectively bargained process that does not help the game or the fans' perception of the game. These players earned their free agency and played at very high levels to get it."
