FORT MYERS, Fla. — There could be several legitimate major league players who could help teams right now but whose careers may end this season.

Who’s to blame for this? The MLBPA has been blamed for poorly negotiating the collective bargaining agreement, which Tony Clark, the executive director of the union, has pushed back strongly on. Are the owners simply using the outline of the limits of the luxury tax to spend more prudently? Is it all of the above?

Clark said there’s carnage every season to some degree, but this might be all-time carnage. Clark, who made his first visit of spring training to the Red Sox on Saturday, understands being questioned as to why so many free agents are still available, and while there’s currently no recourse for those players, Clark said at the end of the process there will be an evaluation.

“Do we want everybody to be signed? Yes, we want everybody to be signed, but the truth is at the end of every offseason, as far back as I can recall, there are always guys at home at the end of the offseason,’’ Clark said. “The key is where we are and if there’s an explanation as to why. And if there is an explanation, try to appreciate what the next steps might look like.’’

Clark thinks there’s been a change in the way teams have gone about procuring — or not — players this offseason. He raises the question of why teams aren’t trying to be competitive and are staying away from legitimate major leaguers.

“The entire CBA is founded and grounded in that competitive balance, and is the key whether you’re a small-market team or large-market team,’’ Clark said. “You have a system in place that affords you revenue-sharing dollars, that affords you opportunities in that regard to suggest year in and year out you can compete even if you don’t have a local revenue pot that other teams have. That’s why the system is designed the way it is.

“The fact that teams aren’t competing like they’re supposed to is a problem. And if this is the new norm, then that’s a problem.’’

So, are collusion charges against the owners appropriate?

“Every offseason we stay connected from the start of the free agent market with agents in an effort to appreciate what abnormalities and anomalies exist,’’ Clark said. “This offseason is no different, except we’re seeing things we have never seen before. It remains to be seen to what extent. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like in that regard but we’ll continue to communicate with agents as the market works its way through.

“We can’t know particulars on each player’s contract status and negotiations with a team. We can’t know that. Once the offseason completes itself that’s when we’re able to dig into the details and appreciate specifics that may have happened.’’

Clark defended his decision not to open the union’s free agent camp to the media.

“We know that back to the last time we held a camp [in 1995] there was a need for guys to be seen because you didn’t know the status of the guys because we were coming off a work stoppage,’’ Clark said. “Guys that were there were guys heavily involved [in the strike] and were traveling all over the country, so they had to work their way back into shape, because the teams didn’t know what condition players were in.

“This is different. This isn’t a case of teams not knowing who was out there and whether they can play. So as a result we wanted guys — because the media is different now than it was in ’95 — we just wanted to make sure guys had an atmosphere where they could just focus on getting into shape. It may change.’’

Asked if he had any regrets about the negotiations that may have caused the current problems for the players, Clark pushed back.

“You have a competitive-balance tax that has been in place for 22 or 23 years. And at the highest levels it has only affected a couple of teams,’’ he said. “The reset provision that is in the CBA affords teams to get under the threshold and lessen their tax burden, that appears to be what two teams are doing.

“There are two other teams who are over the threshold. What appears to be different is how teams are responding to it. You’ve got two-thirds of the league nowhere near the threshold. So the notion that the threshold is affecting two-thirds of the league is not accurate. It’s an inaccurate narrative that’s been bantered about.

“While I understand the narrative, the math doesn’t support it. There are 26 or more teams which are $20 million or more under the threshold.’’

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.