The
TBC Newsletter will keep you periodically up-to-date on what is happening at The Baseball Cube.
Free Agents
The term Free Agent means a player is without a contract with a professional team. Players sign contracts with teams that last 1 or more years with various clauses and features within them that dictate payment or roster status. When a contract expires, and the player is eligible (based on service time and other experience-related rules) he is declared a Free Agent, whether in the Major Leagues or Minor Leagues.
On The Baseball Cube, there is a caveat to the term Free Agent. Since we only track player statuses for affiliated teams, we do not track (in real-time) whether a player is in the Independent Leagues or playing Internationally. We try to capture International but its not a priority. And so therefore, if you see a player with the status of Free Agent, do not assume they are actually a free agent. They are just not on an MLB-affiliated team at the moment.
