“Tired of the baseball free agency lasting into spring training” Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo Criticizes MLB Offseason Delays, Advocates for Swift Free Agency Resolutions

The offseason of Major League Baseball is what this time took Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s fervent attention. In one of the episodes of First Take’s “What are you mad about?” section, Russo raised the issue of why MLB’s offseason schedule is trailing behind. 

According to Awful Announcing, Russo shared, “I have had enough with basically going all over the place waiting for a morsel of information about some big free agent pitcher who’s now going to let us know in the middle of January where he’s going to sign his $300 million contract.”

Further sharing, “They send everybody to Nashville, Tennessee, for the Winter Meetings and nothing got done except Ohtani and that happened four days later when he want to the Dodgers. I am so tired of the baseball free agency lasting into spring training. Let us put everything to bed and we can relax for three months and not pay attention to baseball and we can get ourselves organized in March and get ready for the season.”

“It goes on and on and on and it’s a joke! And it’s a major problem. You need an end game!”

Mad Dog has some issues with the MLB offseason.

"It goes on and on and on and it's a joke! And it's a major problem. You need an end game!" pic.twitter.com/CdbDj3CRFR

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 20, 2023

Molly hints at Mad Dog's future on First Take.

Molly: "Do you ever go away for three months?"

Mad Dog: "I think too many people are getting tired of me. I might go away quicker than you think."

Molly: "That's not what I heard is happening. The streets are talking." pic.twitter.com/azAeuCRh4F

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 20, 2023

The concern raised by Russo is also relevant and debatable as both the leagues of the NBA and NFL begin their offseasons with a rush of top-notch acquisitions. To make his point, Stephen A. Smith also joined in later, after Russo’s rant. 

Smith’s opinions were opposed to Russo and he contended that it was a marked and beneficial move for the league to sign agents during the period between the World Series and free agency.