C.R.E.A.M., get the money,
Dollar dollar bill, y'all"
-Raekwon, great philosopher of Staten Island
So Ron said this in his recent post THREE SIGNINGS TOP HOT, EARLY FREE AGENT MARKET:
I actually thought about this last year during free agency. What do free agents want, besides fistfuls of cash and maybe a date with Mandy Anderson? Do you think anything having to do with a team's success factors into a free agent's decision to sign?
Before we go into how a team's success does or doesn't go into a free agent's decision, I do believe there is at least one factor, possibly two others, about a team that are considered:
- Manager relationship - We've probably all experienced a free agent not even entertaining talks because they cite their personality clashes with the manager.
- Playing time - I've seen responses by free agents after submitting an offer along the lines of "Based on who you have at my position, I'm not interested". I don't know if this is true or just random narrative plucked out of an internal database. This one may or may not actually factor in.
- Promised role - The option to tell the free agent a promised role may or may not affect their willingness to sign. I do know that it can be a factor once they are under contract and their playing time is not what was promised, so they can ask for a trade or cause issues in team chemistry.
- Team success/trajectory - Do free agents "know" Team X just won a Landis or has been to the playoffs in X straight years? Does a GM's 'score' go into calculating a free agent's preferences to sign or not? Is a team's focus of "Win Now!" more attractive to free agents? Conversely, does a "Rebuild" focus deter free agents?
- No-trade clause - Do free agents with "high" loyalty ratings prefer to sign when presented with a no-trade clause?
- Literal "home town discount" - In real life, sometimes it's suggested a player, whether it be in free agency or in requesting a trade, want to play for the team near the city/state they grew up in and/or went to college. I think this is largely blown out of proportion and I would find it hard to believe if some algorithm gives the Black Sox any advantage in signing Luis Barerra just because he's from Chicago, all other things being even.
