Teams and players agree to long-term contracts to stay together for a long time.

When player or team performance start diverging is when a long contract often isn’t.

With opt-out clauses, no trade clauses, deferred payments, long-term contracts can be just a short-term splash to drive higher fan attendance, cable contracts, and money for owners, who don’t expect to pay the full cost of these often-high priced contracts.

Rafael Devers’ 10-year contact was supposed to keep him a Red Sox for the rest of his career, yet 2 years into the contract, Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants. One reason for the trade was his reluctance to change positions from 3rd base after the Red Sox had signed Alex Bregman to a 3-year contract to play 3^rd base.

Now Bregman stayed with Boston for only 1 year, using his opt-out clause to go to the Chicago Cubs for a 5-year contract with a full no trade clause and deferred payments.

Alex Rodriguez almost became a Red Sox in 2003, before the 4^th year of his 10-year contract, the Texas Rangers put him on the trading block. The MLBPA intervened and said that a proposal to reduce the amount of his contact would not be approved and nixed the deal. Rodriguez subsequently signed with the Yankees and used an opt-out clause in 2007 to renegotiate and sign another ten-year long-term contract, but with declining performance, he retired during the 9^th year of the contract.

In 2014, Giancarlo Stanton signed a 13-year contract with a full no trade clause intended to keep him with the Miami Marlins for his career, only to be traded to the Yankees in 2017, three years into the contract. This was after rejecting trades to the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Most of the time when players on contract leave, they go elsewhere, yet in the case of Carlos Correa who left the Houston Astros and signed with the Minnesota Twins to a 6 year contract with 4 club option years, ended up waiving his no trade clause and accepting a trade back to the Houston Astros in year 5, when the Twins decided to go for a full roster overall and rebuild.

Many of today’s players who appear to be on one team for the rest of their career may be on the move, but usually by their choice as most are protected by full no trade clauses and the 10 and 5 rule allowing players with 10 years of major league service and 5 years on the same team to veto any trade, effectively granting them a no trade clause if not already in their contracts.

So, nothing is forever, most of all long-term contracts in this day of age of MLB.