New MLB Rumors Reveal When 'Action' Will Start in Free Agency Ahead of CBA Expiration

Even though no one knows what Major League Baseball will look like whenever the league and union agree to a new collective bargaining agreement, teams are not likely to be shy about making deals in free agency before the pending lockout.

Per ESPN's Jorge Castillo , people within MLB are expecting the "action" of the offseason to start as soon as next week when the general managers meetings begin in Las Vegas.

"With a lockout looming on Dec. 1, the consensus across Major League Baseball is that November will be a frenetic month, similar to the lead-up to the 2021 lockout. Free agents will come off the board," Castillo wrote. "Trades will be made. There will be a flurry of player movement before the league shuts down."

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There would seem to be two big reasons why players want to be aggressive early in free agency.

The first is that with the Dec. 1 date looming for the start of a lockout, getting a contract signed soon takes their biggest decision of the winter off the plate so they can focus solely on preparing for the start of next season whenever it begins.

Secondly, given the ownership side of MLB is set on trying to implement a salary-cap system , no one can say at this point what the future for payroll spending will look like.

The MLB Players Association has said in no uncertain terms they oppose a cap, but until the new CBA is in place, it's impossible for anyone to know what the leagues future finances will look.

Under the current system, teams can spend as much money as they want. Given that Tarik Skubal is expected to sign the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history, perhaps he wants to get a deal done quickly.

It certainly helps Skubal's leverage that the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are believed to be his likeliest suitors, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network.

A player like Skubal is an outlier because he exists at the very top-tier of the market, so he is going to get paid regardless. The second- and third-tier free agents might feel more incentivized to act now because of the CBA uncertainty and maybe they won't have as much money available to them.

Free agency is technically open right now because it starts at 5 p.m. ET five days after the conclusion of the World Series, which ended Oct. 28.

The GM meetings will run from Nov. 9-12 in Las Vegas. The winter meetings, which has historically been where a lot of free-agent and trade activity happens, is tentatively to be held from Dec. 7-10 in Orlando.

If the lockout goes into effect and doesn't get resolved quickly, the winter meetings would almost certainly be canceled.