With their own free agency approaching, Mookie Betts and Chris Sale carefully watching market

MASHANTUCKET, Conn. -- In the not-too-distant future, the Red Sox will soon have a slew of their own star players eligible for free agency.

After 2019, Chris Sale, Rick Porcello, Xander Bogaerts, and, should he opt-out of his current deal, J.D. Martinez will be eligible. The following year, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. will be free agents.

So it's with some alarm that these players are, for the second straight winter, watching a market in which even the game's biggest stars are having difficulty attracting interest from teams.

If Manny Machado and Bryce Harper can't find their expected paydays and Martinez had to wait until the end of February to get an under-market deal, that doesn't bode well for others when it comes time for their turn at free agency.

"It's tough,'' said Betts. "And it's not just those two. There's a lot of good guys that haven't signed. It's kind of something that we'll cross that bridge as things come up. There's a lot of good guys that are unsigned that shouldn't be. You just have to sit back and see. I think everybody's watching to see what goes on, but you don't pay a whole lot of attention to it. That's what they have going on. They have to take care of their business and I have to take care of mine.''

"It's been different the last couple of offseasons,'' acknowledged Sale. "You want to see that change, obviously. It just seems that things are starting to develop so much later now. Before, you'd see guys (signing) around Thanksgiving or Christmas. The winter meetings were kind of the big unveiling (in the past) and now it's a race to skip a couple of days in spring.

"You want to see that change. I think it would be better for the game. When you have guys with track records and what's they've built up to put themselves in that position ... that's your big opportunity. It would be better for us as players, owners and for the game of baseball to kind of have that change.''

But it's not just the slower pace of the signings that should concern the likes of Betts and Sale.

The fact that the top players aren't getting anywhere near what's been projected is also a wakeup call. And while Machado and Harper are just 26 and thus less of long-term risk for prospective bidders, Betts will be 28 and Sale nearly 31 when they reach free agency. Further, Sale will have the additional burden of marketing himself as a starting pitcher over 30 (He turns 30 in March), and traditionally, teams have shied away from offering long-term deals because of the potential risk for injury.

Sale's pending free agency is just 10 months away, but he's yet to hear anything from the Red Sox.

"My phone's on if they call me,'' he said. "Obviously nothing's happened up to this point, but if they called, I'd answer.''

Meanwhile, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy again reiterated the team sees it essential to extend Betts, the 2018 AL MVP, and ensure that he remains with the Red Sox.

"He's the exact type of player you want to have on your team,'' Kennedy said, "not just for what he does on the field, but also off the field. He's such a great person. We'd love to have him be a Red Sox for his entire career.  He's going to want to see what the market looks like and we understand that. But we've made it crystal clear to Mookie that we want him a part of the Red Sox organization long-term.''

For his part, Betts continues to avoid making any commitments beyond this season and next. After two consecutive winters in which Betts and the club failed to negotiate a single-season salary, they did so last week with a $20-million settlement to avoid salary arbitration.

But while some saw that as a possible jumping off point for a longer deal, Betts gave no indication one was forthcoming.

"It's just two parties agreed,'' he said. "It just took a couple of years, but it's kind of part of the business. It's kind of how it goes. Contract things are kind of tough to come up with, especially with both sides and the economics and how those things work. I love Boston, love my teammates, love the fans and all those types of things. We'll just continue to see what happens.''

Asked if he expected the Sox to approach him before the start of spring training with an extension offer, Betts again was careful with his response.

"I'm not sure about that,'' he said. "If that happens, I'll let my agents take care of that.''