What do you believe?
Look at this statement-
"There are differences between hitters and complete players. Matt Holliday is a complete player. There is, frankly, no one
like him in the market."
And how about this one -
http://www.nydailynews.com
(In reference to Johnny Damon) "Johnny just plays, and he's got the body type that allows him to do that. If stem-cell research were around, you'd want to tap into that gene pool"
Both of these men are free agents at the end of the season and both of these men have had their agents talking them up. And looking at those comments you'd think the agents were competing against each other - one is like "no other" and the other should be cloned due to his greatness. So their agents have to be in competition, right? Actually wrong - both of these players are represented by him...http://www.nydailynews.com
The man who is either the most hated man in all of baseball or the greatest agent ever - Scott Boras - represents both Matt Holliday and Johnny Damon. And he is doing what he does best - talking out of both sides of his mouth. Whichever one of his clients can bring him the most money is the one who gets his attention. (Just ask Jason Varitek what it is like to not have that "most favored client" status.) He is almost personally responsible for the huge rift between the "have" and the "have not" teams and he has players thinking the only thing that matters is the number of zeros in their paychecks. But where does he hold the most power? In the amateur baseball draft.
When the draft was instituted in 1965, it's main purpose was to prevent a bidding war among teams for top prospects. The draft allows major league clubs to obtain exclusive negotiating rights to players completing their senior year of high school. If the player decides to go to college instead, he can then be drafted again at the end of his junior year - but the first team retains "rights" to the player until 1 week before the next draft. These rules only apply to amateur players and they were written before the Northern League and other leagues were formed - and that is where Boras found his loophole. In 1994 Jason Varitek, a senior at Georgia Tech, was considered by many to be the best catcher in the draft and when the Seattle Mariners would not meet Boras' asking price, he had Tek sign with the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League and then he argued that since Tek had a "professional contract" he was an unrestricted free agent one week before the 1995 draft and that the Mariners had no claim on him. The Mariners did settle with Varitek one week before the deadline to avoid a stalemate.
Boras pulled the stunt again in 1997 with J.D. Drew. The Phillies drafted him but would not pay the $11 million that Boras wanted, so Drew went to the Northern League as well. MLB amended their draft rules a couple of months later, making Drew still subject to the draft, and in 1998 the Cardinals drafted him and paid the $8.3 million asking price. But is this right?
http://www.mwtb.org
http://www.splitreason.com/When the draft was instituted in 1965, it's main purpose was to prevent a bidding war among teams for top prospects. The draft allows major league clubs to obtain exclusive negotiating rights to players completing their senior year of high school. If the player decides to go to college instead, he can then be drafted again at the end of his junior year - but the first team retains "rights" to the player until 1 week before the next draft. These rules only apply to amateur players and they were written before the Northern League and other leagues were formed - and that is where Boras found his loophole. In 1994 Jason Varitek, a senior at Georgia Tech, was considered by many to be the best catcher in the draft and when the Seattle Mariners would not meet Boras' asking price, he had Tek sign with the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League and then he argued that since Tek had a "professional contract" he was an unrestricted free agent one week before the 1995 draft and that the Mariners had no claim on him. The Mariners did settle with Varitek one week before the deadline to avoid a stalemate.
Boras pulled the stunt again in 1997 with J.D. Drew. The Phillies drafted him but would not pay the $11 million that Boras wanted, so Drew went to the Northern League as well. MLB amended their draft rules a couple of months later, making Drew still subject to the draft, and in 1998 the Cardinals drafted him and paid the $8.3 million asking price. But is this right?
http://www.mwtb.org
In other sports (like football and basketball) the teams that have the worse records have the first crack at the top talent, but in baseball that doesn't always work out. Boras has locked up so many of the amateur players that some teams don't get a crack at the best players because they won't deal with Boras. They either aren't willing to take the chance and lose out or else they just want to have anything to do with the man. The owners have since amended the draft agreement again to include some compensation for teams - if the drafted player doesn't sign my August 15th, the deal is off and the team gets a compensatory pitch in the same place in the following year's draft. (ie: If Team A had the number 2 pick this year and can not sign their draft pick, then they get the #2 draft pick the following year.) But is this way it should be?
The Major League Owners have only themselves to blame for the rise of Scott Boras. They tried to exploit the players; to keep the money to themselves. And that allowed Boras to come in and claim to be "Robin Hood!" He was going to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Maybe that's what he did at first. And now? Should one person have so much power that he can become the talk of game four of the World Series because he chooses to disrupt it by making an announcement about a client opting-put of a contract? The owners can take the game back from him if they band together and hold strong. They need to tell him no and mean it or they will never be free from him exploiting the game.
http://img2.allposters.com
http://img2.allposters.com
So what do you believe? That Matt Holliday is the great thing since slice bread or that Johnny Damon is?
http://rlv.zcache.com
That's what I thought.....
http://rlv.zcache.com
That's what I thought.....
True enough about "Beam Me Up Scotty", esp. vis-a-vis the owners, but there will always be someone who will pony up what he is peddling. I stated on our blog that $$ is not the only issue, though--plenty of owners are willing to pony up the $$. His "genius" is as much the contract lengths he gets. The Red Sox go with shorter contracts (for good or bad), but we still have the large $$ amounts per year (again, for good or bad). So we still have the high payroll $$ per year, but don't always get the personnel we pursue. Theo seems to be willing to live with that. Do we as fans? I don't know.
Report any abuse or spam
The sad part is that when a player wants to stay with a certain team, he often has to work around Boras to accomplish the goal like A-Rod did. Otherwise, had he listened to Boras, he'd be an Angel today. I know, you're probably saying what's wrong with that, but the point is that Boras doesn't care about the relationship between the player and a certain team. There's no value in the relationship if it doesn't equate to more $$. I like Johnny Damon, but I think the Boras connection ends his association with the Yankees after the season. Hmmmm, I wonder what Jason Bay is doing these days...
Scott
http://fotr.mlblogs.com
Report any abuse or spam
Well, you know how I feel about the devil himself... not too fondly. Gonna be hearing a lot of this this offseason.
--Jeff
http://redstatebluestate.mlblogs.com/
http://mtrredstatebluestate.com
Report any abuse or spam
Yeah, the problem with Boras isn't so much that he's after money, it's the tactics he uses to get it. If the owners want to pay $161 million to Mark Teixeira, that's up to them. But the way he goes about getting it, such as planting rumors of a "secret team" involved in negotiations to drive up the price of his client, is dishonest at best, and unethical at worst. And don't even get me started on the draft; these kids aren't even supposed to have agents.
-Erin
http://plunking-gomez.blogspot.com
Report any abuse or spam
Ugh, Scott Boras! I have disliked him ever since the J.D. Drew fiasco. I'm sure that at any given time, whichever client he is negotiating for will be described as the best player out there. I would not trust him as far as I could throw him.
Sue
Rants, Raves, and Random Thoughts
Report any abuse or spam
Don't even get me started on Scott Boras. The negotiations for Stephen Strasburg were ridiculous. I mean, the contract was signed at 11:58:43 on the night of the deadline! The one good thing was that the rumors of a possible $50 million contract proved to be unfounded. And it is, indeed, his tactics that make him so evil.
Shelley http://diamonddiva.mlblogs.com/
Report any abuse or spam
A great read, I felt I learned so much. Thanks!
--Saundra
Report any abuse or spam