Locker room is ready for a big-name free agent
Throughout the first three offseasons of his young tenure, Chris Ballard made it clear he wanted to build up the locker room with a certain culture. This meant doing so largely through the draft. It also meant staying frugal in free agency instead of splurging on the biggest names despite having all of the salary cap space in the world. But now Ballard feels the locker room has grown enough to bring in a big-name free agent and would be successful in getting that player to buy into the mentality of the locker room. How much Ballard is willing to spend is still a mystery, but it seems he’s more open to paying than he has been in recent offseasons.