No, you spoke of how the union would treat Buxton based on whether he was officially a member or not. That's irrelevant. As for the rest, debuts are the most common, but do you really think teams aren't considering that factor other times as well? That they make a July call-up, send the player down, and then just stop considering service time the second or third time they are called up? The debuts just get the most coverage, but service time manipulation is happening constantly to players. And no, we know that all teams play service time games. Not just the small market teams, as Bryant is a glaring example of. Makail Franco is not exactly playing for the Tampa Bay Rays either. And I could go on. Players might feel burned by interactions they personally have with some organizations, but what the Twins did to Buxton matters diddly squat to Machado. Any player that tried to say "I won't sign with a team that manipulates service time" - they'll have to sign with the St. Paul Saints.