Baseball contracts have seemingly been getting more expensive every time a top free agent player signs with a new team. So far this offseason has been no different then that result. On December 1^st, 2015, the Boston Red Sox signed free agent David Price to a 217 million dollar contract from the Toronto Blue Jays. Yes, that same pitcher who has never won a postseason baseball game, with a 5.07 ERA, in the 7 playoff games he has pitched.

However, Price seems to be very confident with this new signing as he stated in an interview over the weekend saying, “I was just saving all my postseason wins for the Red Sox.” Over the 7 years of Price’s contract he will be making an absurd, 31 million dollars per year, and can opt out of his contract after three years with the club. Price is arguably the most dominant lefty in all of baseball right now and this will definitely help a struggling Red Sox pitching rotation and the team that finished dead last in their AL East division last year.

With it being David Ortiz last season with the team as he announced his retirement a few week earlier to the signing of Price, it seems as the Red Sox are going to try and give him the chance to go out with a bang, and one more playoff run. As for Ortiz on the Price signing, as the two have had a troubled past he said in an interview later the day of the sign, “No problems. All that's in the past. Now he is my partner. When a person joins your cause, you must leave the past in the past." (ESPN.com). Ortiz seems to be way beyond the past problems the two had, while Price is sitting pretty now as he became the highest paid pitcher in MLB history with this obscene contract.

Following Price’s signing with the Red Sox, Zack Greinke, another top free agent pitcher was signed to the Arizona Diamondbacks after opting out of his contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Greinke’s contract was yet another ridiculous amount as he will be earning 206 million dollars over the next 6 years, earning him just a little over 34 million dollars a year. Greinke is coming off of a outstanding year, in which he would have received the Cy Young award had it not been for the Cubs Jake Arrieta’s stellar season. He led the MLB in ERA with a solid 1.66, he also earned himself 19 wins compared to a mere 3 losses with 200 strikeouts. The Diamondbacks are going to look to make a few more moves in free agency before the season starts, but what a stud they have gotten in the signing of Greinke to start off their offseason campaign.

Greinke and Price’s absurd contracts go to show how big the baseball market really is and how it is only growing. Other contracts that involved these sums of money over the years were Giancarlo Stanton’s 325 million dollar contract, Miguel Cabrera’s 248 million dollars, Clayton Kershaw’s 215 million dollars, and that's just to name a few. The contracts in professional sports are just becoming larger and larger as the years go by; with these sports becoming more marketable and receiving more sponsorships and endorsements from some of the largest businesses in the country. The question begins to become, will we see the first ever billion-dollar contract in our lifetime? At this rate of contracts, it doesn’t seem that far-fetched of an idea like it once was.