| "All the dead time in the last two free-agent markets is a larger threat to our game than any supposed dead time between pitches," MLBPA president Tony Clark said.
Clark spoke to reporters over the weekend, but the above comment was from an interview Clark did with the Associated Press in Jan. 2019.
But when Clark spoke in Arizona recently, those issues were still atop players' minds, with free agency continuing to drag into spring training and the pitch clock — introduced to MLB last season — remaining unpopular in the union due to injury concerns.
Cody Bellinger returning to the Cubs for three years and $80 million, with opt outs, at least knocked one of the big available free agents off the board, but it happened after position players reported to spring training.
 Pitchers have been in training camp for weeks, but Jordan Montgomery is still waiting to find out who wants to employ a recent World Series champion.
AP
And it also left third baseman Matt Chapman, DH J.D. Martinez and left-handers Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery still on the market, with barely a month remaining before Opening Day.
Not surprisingly, the delays in signings have created new conversations about the possibility of a free agent deadline, which was floated again by commissioner Rob Manfred earlier in the offseason to possibly create "two weeks of flurried activity" around the time of the sport's winter meetings.
At the time, the commissioner said, "We would prefer to have a free agency signing period, ideally in December, with a deadline."
He quickly added at the time that the league's suggestions to the union "were not well received."
Indeed, it was tossed aside by Clark.
"A deadline, in all likelihood, is going to do more damage to players in those conversations than the other way around," said Clark, who also said he objected to the league's plan to cut two seconds off the pitch clock because of a fear a reduction in recovery time between pitches would leave pitchers more susceptible to injury.
 Rob Manfred's proposal for a specific time frame for free agency negotiations didn't go over well with Tony Clark and the players' association.
AP
More than any other major U.S. sport, MLB's free agency remains financially robust, in part because there is no salary cap, but also because there is no set time frame for deals to get done.
If a player — and agent — has the patience to wait out the market, they can be rewarded.
But it is strange to see some of the sport's top players — all in their primes — seemingly struggle to land deals.
In this case, all of the last main free agents are Scott Boras clients.
This offseason doesn't quite match what happened five years ago, when arguably the biggest stars in the game, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, both waited until spring training to sign new deals.
Those elongated negotiations were what prompted Clark to shut down talk of a potential deadline in 2019.
 The slow pace of free agancy this offseason has left agent Scott Boras still trying to find deals for a handful of his clients.
AP
Five years later, even with a new collective bargaining agreement that lasts until 2026, the issue hasn't gone away and likely won't, as long as both sides are willing to play the waiting game.
Today's back page  New York Post
Storm brewing Maybe Rick Pitino should have broken out the white suit earlier in the season.
On the day the St. John's head coach debuted the memorable sideline look at Madison Square Garden, his team went out and delivered its best win of the season, as the Red Storm finally beat a ranked team, downing No. 15 Creighton 80-66.
It probably shouldn't come as a surprise if St. John's plays its best basketball of the season down the stretch.
 Rick Pitino dressed well for St. John's biggest win of the season over No. 15 Creighton on Sunday.
Jason Szenes for the NY Post
At his previous stop, when he was trying to resuscitate a career that was damaged by being fired at Louisville, Pitino took over at Iona for a 2020-21 season that was interrupted four times due to COVID and got off to a 6-5 start. The Gaels, though, won the last two regular season games before rattling off four straight in the MAAC tournament to win the conference title and advance to the NCAA tournament.
This first year at St. John's has been anything but smooth, including a stretch of games in which they lost five of six from mid-January to early February.
That left them just two games over .500 (14-12) overall.
What followed was an ugly win over a bad Georgetown and then Sunday's promising victory over Creighton, after which Bluejays head coach Greg McDermott said, "They can beat anyone on any given night."
More important than the interesting new digs was likely Pitino's words. It was just over a week ago that Pitino ripped his team following a loss to Seton Hall in which St. John's blew a 19-point lead.
 Daniss Jenkins scored nine straight points late in the second half to secure a St. John's win and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
Jason Szenes for the NY Post
They have just three games left before the Big East tournament, all against beatable opponents (DePaul, Butler and Georgetown).
Pitino got to the NCAA tournament twice in his three years at Iona.
We'll find out soon if he can repeat that success at St. John's.
The Bucks don't stop here Speaking of a potential late-season surge, the Eastern Conference may still have to contend with the Milwaukee Bucks. After a sluggish 3-7 start under new head coach Doc Rivers, the Bucks have won two straight, with the victories coming against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Rivers' former team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
 Giannis Antetokounmpo's recent scoring binge has the Bucks looking like the title contender they were expected to be before the season.
Getty Images
Not that anyone was necessarily counting out Milwaukee, but they certainly didn't seem like a team that was going to do much damage in the playoffs, even with Rivers, after the rough start — especially after defeat to a miserable Memphis Grizzlies team on Feb. 15.
But Giannis Antetokounmpo is reverting to MVP form and has scored 30-plus points in three straight games.
The Bucks are still looking for an identity under Rivers, with Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in their first season together.
And with the way the Boston Celtics have played this season, it's unclear if anyone can get by them in either conference.
 Doc Rivers has a 5-7 record as the Bucks coach but has Milwaukee playing well after the All-Star break.
AP
So, while the Knicks wait to get healthy, the Cleveland Cavaliers underwhelm in the two-spot and the Sixers are without Joel Embiid due to his knee injury, Milwaukee could end up Boston's toughest foe in the East.
What we're reading 👀 🏒 All good things must come to an end, even if that means losing to the worst team in the NHL's Eastern Conference. On the bright side for a Rangers team that just saw a record-tying 10-game win streak end in Columbus is a chance to start a new streak at MSG on Wednesday against the same Blue Jackets.
⚾ As buttoned-up as the Yankees might be, Juan Soto doesn't plan to change his celebratory plans should he get hold of a pitch like he did Sunday afternoon in launching a home run off the left-field scoreboard in his first game this spring. "When I get you, don't be mad at me because it's going to be loud," Soto tells Jon Heyman. "When I hit a big home run, I'm going to flip my bat 500 feet in the air."
⚾ Speaking of those Yankees, Steve Serby caught up with another new addition, Alex Verdugo, who is enjoying life so far as a Yankee after tasting what life was like with the Dodgers and the Red Sox. "I make pitchers work," Verdugo said. "I'm a very big bat-to-ball guy. I don't like to swing-and-miss a lot. ... I'm a guy that I can hit the ball from left-field line to the right-field line and anywhere in between."
🏀 March is almost here, and Zach Braziller has a look at why Kentucky might be the most fascinating team in the NCAA Tournament, the perils of fans storming the court and why Seton Hall might be the most surprising team in the country.
🏁 Odds are you won't see a closer finish in auto racing than what happened at Atlanta Motor Speedway in NASCAR on Sunday.
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