The market is starting to play out

We all know about the so-called "Madden curse," where some football fans believe that a player landing on the cover of the popular "Madden" video game will lead to that player getting injured or having a sub-par season the following year. Does the curse apply to baseball video games, as well? Nationals fans should hope not. Bryce Harper is one of the candidates to grace the cover of "MLB 13: The Show," and the 20-year-old outfielder apparently has already taken part in a campaign shoot for the video game. Harper is already the youngest position player to ever make the MLB All-Star Game. He's the youngest position player to ever win the National League Rookie of the Year award. Could he become the youngest player to land on a video game cover? We shall see. Edwin Jackson probably has a big smile on his face this morning. Why? Well, Anibal Sanchez just landed a five-year, $80 million deal from the Tigers. We'll ignore the fact that Sanchez (who had a 3.86 ERA last season) will now make $16 million a year, which is the same average annual value that Justin Verlander (2.64 ERA in 2012) has on his current deal. These figures on the Sanchez contract could certainly help Jackson, who is still on the open market and looking for a multi-year deal. After the deals that Sanchez and Ryan Dempster scored the last two days, it appears Jackson shouldn't have any problems finding a nice payday, despite average numbers posted with the Nats last season. In addition to Jackson, Nationals hitters probably have big smiles on their faces this morning, as well. Why? Well, Sanchez has absolutely dominated the Nats in his career, going 8-0 with a 1.97 ERA in 19 starts against them. Now, he'll be safely tucked away in the AL Central. The Nats could still end up facing Sanchez in interleague play this season, as they play two games in Detroit in late July, but outside of that, they'll get to avoid him. We're really starting to see the market play out now that the big names (Zack Greinke, Josh Hamilton, B.J. Upton, etc.) are coming off the board. Guys like Jackson and Adam LaRoche could now see their value rise a little bit as teams that failed to land one of their top free-agent targets look elsewhere. As I mentioned yesterday (and a few times prior to that), LaRoche is now a guy to watch for the Rangers, who have come up short in their quest to land both Greinke and Hamilton. In other news around the league, former Nationals outfielder Xavier Nady has signed a minor league deal with the Royals, the team announced. Nady, a well-liked veteran, struggled offensively in his stint with the Nats last season, but latched on with the Giants and ended up winning a World Series ring out in San Francisco.