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| SCOTT BORAS |
THE RED SOCKS BLOG
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
During the G.M./Owners meeting last week,the hotel lobby looked like a police 'stake-out' gone bad.
As Scott Boras emerged from the elevator a 'stampede' ensued.A elderly couple that was almost run over asked,"What he hell is going on"?
"It's Scott Boras," shouted a reporter as he ran by,"he's going to deliver the sermon on the mount !"
Scott Boras is the 'God' of baseball agents.
He has been described as 'Baseballs most hated man' from the owners perspective to 'the man players can't afford to live without'.Boras has actually forced MLB to change it's rules in the past in response to his actions.
As a young man Scott Boras was quite a baseball player.He attended the University of the Pacific on a baseball scholarship and in 1972 led the team with a .312 BA.
Boras played four years of minor league ball in the Cardinals and Cubs organizations,when knee problems ended his baseball career.
With a baseball career out of the question Boras returned to the University of the Pacific and received his law degree.
Scott's first job was defending drug companies against class-action lawsuits.
In the early days of the 1980's Boras decided his career choice would be as a baseball agent.Boras left his law firm to become a agent full-time.
Boras founded Boras Corporation,a baseball-only sports agency.
Over the years they have become know for record-setting contracts for their free agents and fantastic bonuses for their amateur draft picks.
Today,the Boras Corporation works out of a 23,000 square foot building in Newport Beach,California.Many of Boras's staff are former major leaguers including Bill Caudill and Kurt Stillwell.
Boras's specialty is 'the record breaking' contract.Boras has said these contracts are the hardest to achieve because it then provides an 'umbrella' from which other players coming after can benefit from.
In January of 2012 Boras obtained a $ 214 million nine-year contract for Prince Fielder of Detroit,the fourth-largest contract ever for a baseball player.With this deal Boras became responsible for three of the four $ 200 million plus deals in the history of baseball.
Baseball is the 'National Pastime'.It has endured for well over 100 years.Thru wars,depressions and times of national distress.And now baseball,like the times is changing again.
I don't know for sure what the GM's were telling Boras during the meetings, but I suspect they were politely telling him the days of the long-term contract were over.Unless your say,Dustin Pedroia and are 'The Franchise' you will not be getting the eight or nine year contract.
Boras then took his frustration out on the owners.
In his press conference Boras lashed out at the large-market teams with small payrolls.
"The Mets are like NASA,they have big rockets,a lot of platforms and very few astronauts.Astronauts are hard to find.They've got one guy with the 'Wright' stuff,that's for sure.And they've got a lot of Arm-strongs too.But they're certainly a club that I'm sure that's in pursuit of a higher lever of talent.I think the ability to spend and actually spending are two different things.And that's only for the Mets to diagnose, certainly their franchise value has gone through the roof -- they're well over $2 billion.They're a very successfully run business operation.The Mets have the ability to do pretty much what they want to do.But it's hard to find astronauts".
Boras then took aim at Chicago and the Rickets family who own the Cubs.
"You're developing the infrastructure,but fans don't come to see seats,grass,cement.They come to see players.They've done a great job in the draft and development and they've got a really good core of young players coming,but it is just not what's expected when you have a family buy a major-league club".
The result was that one was left with the impression Boras was trying to alienate the fans of the Mets & Cubs from ownership.It was almost as if he was saying,'Their too cheap to buy you a winner --- why are you their fans'?
But the business side of baseball is changing.Too many teams are making paychecks for players that are not playing.It's hard enough to compete if you are a small-market team,without the burden of expenses that pay no dividends.And make no mistake - the owners are going to limit themselves to more reasonable contract arrangements.
Furthermore,with the financial uncertainty in America today, business does not know where they will be six months from now let alone nine years.
The measuring stick of this change will be what happens to Jacoby Ellsbury.
Boras has assured everyone that Ellsbury will get his 'career' contract.Where Ellsbury ends up will say a lot about the state of the game today.
Of the top ten teams in payroll last season all are having their problems. Here is a quick rundown:
1) Yankees - The free spending days are over as they worry about the 'luxury tax' in MLB.
2) Dodgers - They already have Carl Crawford - need we say more.
3) Phillies - Have already signed Marlon Byrd.
4) Red Sox - With Jackie Bradley Jr. 'What me worry".
5) Tigers - IOU Cabrera,Martinez,Verlander and Fielder.
6) Giants - Looking for pitching.
7) Angels - IOU Trout and Pujols.
8) White Sox - Rebuilding from scratch.
9) Blue Jays - After last year in no mood to spend.
10) Cards - NL Champs are looking for a shortstop.
After these ten teams the rest spend only about half of the New York Yankees.Where is the 'career contract' for Ellsbury going to come from ?
The benchmark will be if Ellsbury ends up in Seattle.
He would then become the Prince to the King (Felix of coarse).
The Mariners are many years away from the postseason - Ellsbury might be a good fit to 'put bums' in the seats for a few years.
As the offseason of 2013 progresses we will have a better understanding of what is happening in baseball.
But what I don't see are stories in the press about teams competing against each other in bidding wars,as in the past.
Hopefully baseball has caught on and owners will no longer be putting all their assets on one player.As the Red Sox proved last year,baseball is a team game.
So now we go from 'the sermon on the mount' to another 'Prophet' approximately 1963 years later.
...The order is Rapidly fadin'
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'
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