Agree completely.
The Modern Game is weird, this “Opener” Craze one more goofy aspect.
But fundamentally, as a fan from the 50’s, the advent of Free Agency was the End of the ongoing connection with “our guys.”
During those years our players were one of us, having to take jobs in the offseason, I used to see some of the Senators who lived in nearby garden apartments, pitchers Johnny Klippstein and Carl Mathias.
So even if the team was lousy, there was that Bond.
Now you see a guy who’s say, 25, after a few good years, he’s set for life!
Then, he stops hustling.