NORMAL AGING RESUMES:

After three weeks and two days, a training camp for baseball's unsigned free agents will close its doors Friday. According to the Associated Press, 41 players attended the camp in Bradenton, Fla. Only seven found employment. Other veterans such as Mike Moustakas, Jake Arrieta, Alex Cobb, Lance Lynn and Andre Ethier have been training on their own while exhibition games began without them.

The offseason was a time for reflection. The supply of unsigned players was exceeded only by the supply of opinions as to how the market had changed and why. Once the games began, however, this was no longer a story about supply and demand. It was a story of aesthetics.

The average age of the major league hitter decreased from 29.3 in 2004 to 28.3 in 2017. The average age of pitchers fell too - not as pronounced, but following the same broad trend - from 29.2 in 2005 to 28.5 a year ago. Now, the average age is roughly in line with the 1980s and early 1990s, before the size of the league and the size of the players grew.

The majority of unsigned major league free agents are in their 30s. [...]

Craig Counsell caught himself mid-thought.

"The PED era fooled us a little bit," he said, and a smile quickly crept over his face. 

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