12/22/24
June 07, 2004
Padres pass on J.D.'s little brother : to take HS SS Matt Bush. Since this is the baseball draft and very few people actually care about it, I present this subplot: two players formerly considered top 5 talents-- Stephen Drew and Jared Weaver-- fell to the middle of the first round after their agent, Scott Boras, "hinted" that they would expect to be paid Mark Prior money.
I am pretty sure Boras is the main reason these two fell to where they did. Stephen Drew went to the D-Backs...and you can't squeeze Prior money from a turnip, so he may not even get signed after falling so far. This has now happened in the NFL draft and now the baseball draft. If your choice of agent affects your draft position that much (is the money difference between top 5 and 12 or 15 as big in baseball as it is in the other sports?) wouldn't it be time to rethink your choice of agent?
posted by pivo at 03:54 PM on June 07, 2004
It's incredible to me that this never comes back to bite guys like Scott Boras, Carl Posten, and Bob Sugar in the ass.
posted by filthyboy at 05:44 PM on June 07, 2004
Gammons had a good article today regarding the draft, so I looked up a few of the names and couldn't believe how some of these guys have either not signed or are out of the game now. To name 2: Matt Harrington seems to be an advertisement for what agent not to pick, and Jeff Allison seems a bust since he's allegedly addicted to the OC's.
posted by usfbull at 06:28 PM on June 07, 2004
Jeff Allison seems a bust since he's allegedly addicted to the OC's. When I first read this, I thought you meant he was addicted to the OC...honestly I don't know which is worse.
posted by filthyboy at 07:00 PM on June 07, 2004
Scott Boras is a fucking asshole. He's the ultimate in sleezy sports agents, I had to rinse myself off of the slime after listening to the interview. About a week ago, he was on the local sports radio station saying Derek Lowe has the best stuff he's ever had and how many great innings Derek Lowe is eating up. Uh, yeah. Innings eater.
posted by jerseygirl at 07:04 PM on June 07, 2004
Sorry filthy, those painkillers have been ripping apart my hometown for years now, so I always refer to them by their street name.
posted by usfbull at 08:16 PM on June 07, 2004
usfbull - that Matt Harrington link is an incredible story - thanks. Anybody remember years ago the story of Yankee's #1 pick Brien(sic) Taylor? I think he was like the first high schooler offered a million before he ever pitched a game. 60 minutes even did a report on him. Don't believe he ever pitched a single game.
posted by vito90 at 08:26 PM on June 07, 2004
Is Taylor the one who jacked his arm in a bar-room brawl and never made it back after that?
posted by pivo at 08:34 PM on June 07, 2004
Anybody remember years ago the story of Yankee's #1 pick Brien(sic) Taylor? For years I have been trying to remember his name because that 60 minutes piece always stuck with me. Thanks Vito. JG, I'll give you one guess to find out who his agent was, but you have to click here to see if you were correct. And you're right pivo, this comes from the NY Daily News: Remember Brien Taylor? I didn't think so. Not too many years ago, he was the nation's top high school baseball player. The possessor of a fastball that went from 0 to 98. The Yankees drafted him and, after extended negotiations - entirely too much back-and-forth between the club and his agent - Brien Taylor signed for a million dollars. Back when a million dollars was a nice piece of change. He was going to win all his games and strike out everybody, and, for all I know, spend the offseason playing trombone with Wynton Marsalis. He didn't come close. Before his first season in the minors, Brien Taylor got into a little fight. He hurt his arm. That blazing fastball was gone. And so was Brien Taylor's career.
posted by usfbull at 08:50 PM on June 07, 2004
Recent Boras stuff. He's not exactly a favorite, at least with me. I have the interview I was talking about at work, and I'll try to post it somewhere so you can hear it, just to get a real feel for Boras in the flesh. As a Boston fan, I'm pissed because he's going to take Lowe and Varitek to free agency instead of try to work out another contract with the team. (I'm starting to care less about Lowe and worrying more about losing Varitek, at this point).
posted by jerseygirl at 09:24 PM on June 07, 2004
If I were Jeff Weaver's li'l brother, I sure wouldn't advertise. Not if I wanted to play Major League ball. "We stayed up half the night and wasted a lot of perfectly good whiskey just to see that jerk throw a gopher-ball." - my dad
posted by lil_brown_bat at 07:55 AM on June 08, 2004
As a Boston fan, I'm pissed because he's going to take Lowe and Varitek to free agency instead of try to work out another contract with the team. I'm sorry but Scott Boras is an agent not a member of the Red Sox PR staff. Despite his negotiation tactics he is hired by players to secure the best possible financial deal. If you want to make a nicer generalization he is hired to advise his clients on making the best possible career decision. Which whether anyone likes it or not usually amounts to money. Agents aren't drafted, they're hired so you can get as pissed at Lowe and Varitek, I mean you don't see them dumping him to renegotiate on their own. Besides, let's say that the supposed offer of 3yrs, 27mil had been accepted by Lowe earlier this year....would you be happy about that now? Is that the Sox getting the best of Boras or vice versa? And regarding Prior.....isn't he worth that price?
posted by YukonGold at 04:32 PM on June 08, 2004
I'm aware of who hires Boras. Thanks.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:25 PM on June 08, 2004
So what are you getting at then?
posted by yerfatma at 11:35 AM on June 09, 2004
To expand upon my question: while I might agree that Scott Boras is an ass in this world, if he didn't exist we'd just be talking about asshole #2 (e.g., Drew Rosenhaus, the Postons, etc.). That Scott Boras burns teams/ fans on a regular basis isn't really germane. The more intersting thing (to me) is the implication this action has for "competitive balance". Even the strictest salary cap wouldn't prevent agents from steering rookies to richer teams. Maybe you limit the Yankees and Sox major league payrolls, but money flows like water and it will make it's influence felt. If it can't happen at the major league level, the money will pool at the next most important spot. So you can hate on Boras all you want, but he's making the large-market teams (like our precious Sox) better at the expense of small-market teams like the Padres. And there's not much anyone can do about it. Feel free to just respond to this with some 'tude, but hopefully it will spark some real discussion with someone.
posted by yerfatma at 11:42 AM on June 09, 2004
My point is exactly what I said: "As a Boston fan, I'm pissed because he's going to take Lowe and Varitek to free agency instead of try to work out another contract with the team." I know he's going to take them to free agency and they may end up leaving the team. Or to put it even more simply, and removing the background intricacies of the business side of it all -- small/large market teams, small/large salaried teams, etc-- "as a fan, potentially losing a decent/very decent player to free agency instead of staying with the team, sucks". Am I overstepping, yerfatma, to say that as a fan, seeing a player (take your pick out of your favorite Boston FA) leave the team would be less than ideal for you, also? I am aware that the player contracts the service of the agent to negotiate on their behalf and protect their interests. I know that Varitek has gone on the record saying, "He's [Boras] a bulldog... I want a bulldog in my corner". Boras has built himself a very strong reputation in the game and as such, the players seek him out. It's not as if Boras is leading them (his clients) blindly down some path they haven't already agreed to.
posted by jerseygirl at 12:12 PM on June 09, 2004
Am I overstepping . . . to say . . . seeing a player . . . leave the team would be less than ideal for you, also? Sure, but these kids just got drafted. They're not going anywhere for what, x+3 years where x is the number of years before a player reaches the minors.
posted by yerfatma at 12:38 PM on June 09, 2004
:)
posted by jerseygirl at 12:39 PM on June 09, 2004
Am I overstepping, yerfatma, to say that as a fan, seeing a player (take your pick out of your favorite Boston FA) leave the team would be less than ideal for you, also? Well, even with a salary cap instead of luxury tax, free agency ain't goin' away. That train has left the station. The fat lady has sung. The genie is out of the bottle. And so on.
posted by billsaysthis at 05:51 PM on June 09, 2004
It's politics, the Padres just want to curry favor with the Administration.