As the MLB off-season comes to an end and gives way to spring training, the fate of two notable players still hang in the balance. Mookie Betts and Nolan Arenado, young players who are the face of their franchises, may very well find themselves in a different uniform come the regular season.

Imagine how preposterous it would have been in another age of the sport to even consider letting go of such star talent. Entire curses would be placed upon a team that sent away the cream of the crop. So is the way of free agency. Much to the chagrin of fans, it has become a far more uncommon occurrence for clubs to offer long term contracts or for the athletes themselves to agree to multi-year deals.

Even so, baseball isn’t the worst example of this. One can still find elite players willing to spend most, if not their whole career, at one place, whether they be Clayton Kershaw or Mike Trout. No, the most blatant example of this tendency is in the NBA.

“Ring chasing” has been a facet of professional basketball for some time now, such as Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining the Lakers in the twilight of their careers. However, this trend has been accelerated in recent seasons, with top stars like Anthony Davis and Kahwi Leonard signing short-term contracts in hopes of making a quick championship run.

Now, certainly free agency has been beneficial for many players who were underpaid or undervalued on the original teams. However, this new era in free agency can only serve to annoy fan bases who face the prospect of never having franchise players to root for year in and year out. While this current direction may land certain players a few more rings, I can only feel that that many jilted supporters will lay in its wake.