Agent Scott Boras jabbed back at Major League Baseball’s comments to ESPN’s Crasnick this evening, writes FanRag’s Jon Heyman. Specifically, Boras questioned how the league could reconcile the notion of commenting on any offers made to unsigned players — a reference to Manfred telling Crasnick that some players had received “nine figure” offers.
“I find it interesting that free agents have nine-figure offers since the CBA mandates that teams not share that sort of information,” said Boras. “I am also curious how a public statement communicated to all teams about offers on the table and players demanding too much money from a central league office … is any different from the infamous ’information bank’ in the 1980s.”
MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem responded to Boras’ comments (also per Heyman):
“If Mr. Boras spent as much time working on getting his players signed as he does issuing inflammatory and unsubstantiated statements to the press, perhaps the events of this off-season would be different.”
Boras, without missing a beat, replied by pointing out that Halem made no denial that the league’s comments on the nature of offers some players have received contained the type of information that should not be made public and should not be known about by league officials. He also invoked statements from former union chief Donald Fehr made more than three decades ago:
“I’d be embarrassed,” Fehr said of MLB owners back in 1987. “But they aren’t. And the reason they aren’t is that they have decided that winning a battle with the players over salaries is more important than winning on the field. Winning on the field is secondary these days. The owners apparently feel they will come out no matter what.”
To Boras’ credit, it does seem curious that the league’s statement would openly acknowledge the size of offers that some players have received. In addition to running counter to the CBA, the comments hardly paint players in a favorable light at a time in which commissioner Rob Manfred is spearheading efforts to broadly expand the game’s appeal to a younger audience. If anything, today’s statement only furthers the popular “greedy player” narrative — one which often ignores that the alternative is for the even wealthier owners to simply pocket money not spent on player contracts.
While those numbers weren’t exactly a secret after being leaked to the media by various sources, likely from both the agent and team side of the equation in various cases, it was nonetheless surprising to see the league stating those numbers in a factual manner (even if it was merely in reference to media reports; it’s not clear which was the case in this instance).
Of course, it’s also worth noting that Boras is making a reach by likening the current economic state of free agency to one in which owners were proven to have colluded, resulting in mass one-year deals throughout the league and, eventually, an “information bank” in which owners readily shared intel on the types of offers that were being made to free agents.
Boras’ usage of Fehr’s comments, though, was more likely in reference to the spirit of competition (or lack thereof) and the number of “tanking” teams that aren’t endeavoring to put forth a winning club in 2018. Viewed through that lens, there’s some merit to the reference, but teams today certainly have greater incentive to tank than the more financial motives of those late-80s clubs. Furthermore, the five-year deal for Lorenzo Cain as well as reported seven-year offers for Eric Hosmer and five-year offers for J.D. Martinez and Yu Darvish underscore the fact that it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
That point seems particularly worth highlighting; while many critics of the labor side of this dispute express difficulty in sympathizing with millionaire players that aren’t finding often outlandish contractual demands met, the larger issue isn’t so much that players like Hosmer, Martinez and Yu Darvish aren’t receiving offers in excess of $150MM. Rather, one of the main gripes — certainly the one voiced by Boras and MLBPA chief Tony Clark today — is simply that not enough teams are making any sort of effort, and their refraining from free agency entirely has eliminated the game’s general spirit of yearly competition (both on the field and on the open market). In addition to limiting the market for the top-tier talents, the absence of 10 or more teams on the free-agent market dramatically erodes the market for mid-range free agents who, in prior winters, would’ve happily taken two- and three-year deals from teams that may not be clear division-championship-level contenders. Obviously, there’s time yet for offers from some such teams to materialize.
Of course, as has been pointed out on many occasions — the players themselves bear no shortage of responsibility in the matter. The current structure of amateur talent acquisition in Major League Baseball disproportionately rewards noncompetitive clubs in both the draft and the amateur international market, thereby encouraging teams to strive for high draft picks rather than taking an against-the-odds shot at a Wild Card berth. Those measures, as well as the luxury tax that many of the game’s heaviest spenders are treating as a soft salary cap, were agreed upon by the union in the most recent wave of collective bargaining a bit more than one year ago.
Manfred and MLB execs read MLBTR. Thats how they know some dollar figures.
It’s a violation of the CBA to disclose offers to anyone, including the media. There are important reasons for the impartial league office to not comment on offers to players, even if they read it on a blog
BS. Fact is players at the top are not accepting good contract offers and it’s trickling down to players in the middle!
Agents simply don’t want these facts acknowledged!
Saying they have 9 figure offers still comes up short on actually disclosing what specific offers were made. Owners just defended themselves,because the players union and Boras are going public blaming them for the slow offseason.
Let’s be realistic here. Where do these reporters get most of their information leaked from??? It’s no secret that it comes from the agents.
I’ve been all for letting Boras gather the best possible contracts for players to consider, but this is getting ridiculous. He has zero authority in this game. On top of that, what bothers me most is that he’s the one that both lit the match and is continually dumping gasoline on the fire.
The issues of this offseason (as discussed in a different thread) mostly stem from other systemic issues more related to league economics and a new set of rules. Boras, painting this picture, is diverting attention to a completely different topic that’s almost 100% unrelated and likely to bring about the most change in the long run that would financially benefit the players (and indirectly him.)
Another day, no signings in sight. Sigh
I really don’t see an end to this where the players get what they feel they are due. Owners can be of the same mindset without colluding to suppress free agent values. There is simply no incentive for trying to win unless you’re one of the big powerhouses (HOU, CHC, LAD, NYY) or you’re on the cusp of making it already (MIL, LAA). In a battle over money, the ones who already have it are likely to come out on top, which does not bode well for this FA class, especially with LA saving for Kershaw and NY for Machado
The problem is the draft pools and caps on international spending incentivize tanking. They need to find a way to incentivize trying to win. Is that a salary cap (which the luxury tax basically is) and floor? Is it eliminating the bonus pools and going back to the old system so teams aren’t worried about draft position or losing picks?
International draft pools were changed in the last CBA so that they aren’t tied to win-loss record but to market size. Sixteen teams get $4.75 million and the other 14 get $5.25 or $5.75 million. The Indians, one of the best teams, has one of the big pools.
Draft pools were also changed so that the top picks’ pools aren’t nearly as big as they used to be. Any other advantages to losing, e.g. early pick in Rule 5, aren’t really worth that much.
Teams are trading players with decent short term value for those with the potential for high long term value. In the past they’d only trade impending free agents, but the Astros and Cubs traded players with multiple years of control. The teams are then playing as many young players as they can in order to find the core for when they win. Losing isn’t the goal. It’s the by product of this strategy.
The Royals and Pirates had 20 years where they rarely had a winning record because they never tore everything down. Who wants to be a fan of a team that’s trying just to get to .500 each year?
Would agree. There have always been teams who just cannot compete with the likes of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers financially. They have had to find a different way to try to win. That usually meant developing your own talent and make some key trades to fill holes. And for the most part, they didn’t win a whole lot. Since the advent of free agency, spending big dollars on free agency never was a guarantee of winning, but it certainly increased your odds. During the 21 post seasons between 1995 and 2015, the average payroll rank of the WS winner was 7.6. and of the 42 teams to appear in those WS, there were only 7 appearances by teams in the bottom half of the league payroll rankings.
But over the past few years, the tide has turned. Analytics helped teams who could not or would not spend a way to better identify, collect, and develop young talent. The past three World Series champions have used that strategy successfully. Royals had the 16th ranked payroll, beating the Mets with the 21st ranked payroll. In 2016 the Cubs were 14th, the Indians were 24th. And last year, the Astros were 18th, the Dodgers were 1st. The Dodgers have now become the aberration. So is it really any surprise that a lot of other teams are now using the same strategy? Does that require that a team lose for awhile in order to get good? No, but does increase the odds that it will. Businesses take short term losses for long term gain all the time, yet in baseball that is now something bad? It really isn’t, it is still good business and baseball sense. The only reason this is an issue is there are a lot of free agents who can’t find homes and agents not getting paid because of this strategy.
Way too much emphasis here on who wins the World Series. This fairly arbitrary outcome doesn’t tell you much if anything about whether (or how much) spending influences competitiveness. To do that, the data that needs to be crunched is win-loss percentage against team payroll over a goodly number of years. That scatter chart would say a lot more about whether or how much it is worth spending to get the competitiveness result (a metric the GMs probably all know quite well). I suspect spending and winning are a lot more closely correlated than you are indicating here. Note that correlations can’t predict outliers.
I would add three to your powerhouses Nationals,Indians and Red Sox these three are very talent rich and a threat to win it all. On the up and coming I would add Rockies to the list of up and coming teams and another list of possibilities with these
Twins,Mets, Giants White sox and Athletics whom all show promise . The bottom feed no winners are the Padres, Braves, Rays,Marlins, Tigers, Reds, Phillies, Rangers, Orioles and Mariners ( with the Mariners a Question mark)
Forgot about the diamondbacks on a list of possibilities.
Nice job of laying out multiple points of view Steve.
Meow.
The union should be focused on agreeing to rules that gives teams less incentive to tank. And this isn’t new. The union completely ignored the fact last year that several teams were tanking. draft lottery or a EPL model someone suggested on fangraphs.
Take a % of the revenue pie and split it up and let it trickle down. Team that wins gets the most, worst record least amount. Eliminates tanking virtually if all you extremely pro players people believe the owners only care about profits then this is by far the best solution, nobody will be tanking if finishing 25th means several million difference in profits from 30th.
Example of capitalism at its finest there. But as a fan of a small market team who can’t finish near the top every year, I’m going to have to disagree with your proposal.
there’s no way to ensure your favourite small market team will be competitive every year, putting rules like a salary floor will just make it worst for your favourite small market team. This narrative that spending equals wins is a complete contradiction to what we know and that is signing old free agents is a surefire way to fail.
People are downvoting this like ALL the revenue would be split this way. No. Take a % of the total revenue say 25% of it and that’s what everyone plays for example. Your favourite poorly fan small market team would still be profitable for the owner and god forbid they might make some innovative baseball hires and and become create a modern day “moneyball” era or something similar.
Acting like all the revenue would be dealt out to those who win is just you dismissing the idea instead of asking yourself if this would be better for baseball as a whole.
Frankly I don’t think it would or will happen because the yanks and dodgers make sooo much more money then everyone else in baseball.
The design of the CBA is to encourage rebuilding for competitive balance. Rebuilding shows MLB’s competitive balance is working. Eventually, all teams will need to rebuild, even teams like the Dodgers or Yankees will. Team revenue dictates how long the competitive window is open, and how long the rebuild takes, Large market teams will make mistakes on contracts, but they can afford 3 or so big missteps before they run into serious payroll space issues and that’s why they’ll remain competitive longer.
Rebuilding is not “tanking” in my opinion. Tanking would be intentionally losing games by not using assets you have. No team in MLB intentionally sits better players for the express purpose of losing games to secure a better draft pick.
More teams have made it to the championship game(s) in MLB over the past 10 years than the NFL, NHL or NBA. It doesn’t suit MLBs long term health (from a player, agent or ownership standpoint) to have continually non-competitive teams or continually elite teams. It would almost be like a de-facto contraction of MLB teams into MiLB farm systems the way it used to be.
Sure, there are unwarranted success stories from small market teams in the past. The 1987 Twins had no business in the playoffs, let alone winning the World Series, for example. It just happened with luck. In 1991 the Twins won again, and again on the back of luck with several players turning in career years all at the same time. Overall, though, the lack of competitive balance led to the enormous disputes, a baseball strike which crippled the sport and longer term attempts at contracting MLB teams.
It’s in the best interest of fans, owners, players and agents to ensure competitive balance in baseball, especially at a time when the big 4 sports are struggling to maintain fan base and attract younger fans.
Here’s the REALITY;
This winter’s batch of ‘upper tier’ free agents simply aren’t worth their asking prices. Period. In fact, they’re not even what would or should be considered as upper tier. Darvish IS NOT an ace, HE WAS. Arrieta WAS. This off season is really turning me off.
Bingo.
So I take it you don’t agree with Boras’ 200+ million asking price on Jake Arrieta? Bet you he thought he was going to get it, too. Sorry, Scotty, nobody’s buying your crappy binders at a significant premium. He sure wasn’t complaining when he was getting obscene money for the likes of Ellsbury and Choo.
Prediction: Arrieta gets 4/70. The signing team will probably regret that contract later on as well.
I like Jake Arrieta … I like Yu Darvish JD Martinez …. 4-$70 (or in that ballpark) appears fair … but if that’s the best they get offered or the current deal they already rejected is … might we see none of them sign until May/June? Agent/Player greed is obscenely strong and as solid as those players are why would any owner pay for them at a premium and lessen the chances at true stars next off season?
I like Darvish and JDM; I’m no fan of Arrieta, though. I think Darvish and JDM will get paid(over 100 million for each), but I definitely don’t see Arrieta getting anything near that. I also can’t see him taking a pillow contract. He’ll be 1 year older next year, he could definitely have a disappointing year/get injured, and the big spending teams aren’t saving their money for the likes of Arrieta next year, rather for Harper, Machado, Kershaw, and even Donaldson will get paid. I think Arrieta will sign the best long term deal he can find. If he’s struggling in a down market like this year, he wouldn’t stand a chance in next year’s market.
Age is certainly working against Arrieta when boras wants minimum 5 or 6 years and as a SP he will be tooo old at end of contract to justify that many years
But do agents leak to the press contract ambiguities to improve their stance by trying to create a better market or bidding wars but teams can’t disclose contracts generalities? Hmmm interesting. Either way the markets that teams see and of course the over inflated market agents create are not even close which as a fan I am happy with. Who will blink first?
I think that minimum salary should be raised, it could even out the market a little. Maybe to 800k to 1 million per year? Pre arb guys produce a lot for clubs and they are taken advantage of as far as pay goes, compared to players of their caliber.
Why on Earth would owners agree to that?
Gotta earn your stripes.
I fail to see how raising the league minmum will even things out please explain
They sound like a couple of middle school crybabies.
This is getting silly. Money left over after an organisation has paid their overhead (Player salaries, front office staff, facility expenses, etc) is called the “profit”. Now I’m against owners being greedy and not reinvesting into their on-field product but certainly a 20-30% return off of a plus $100 mil investment is reasonable and I wouldn’t begrudge someone for wanting to put that into their pockets. These agents, especially Boras, need to stop with this public bickering. Agents have no care as to whether or not the team ends up with a bad contract on the books once the ink is dry and they’ve collected their commission. I’m in a similar field where I represent talent and collect a percentage of their deal. However, the best deals I strive for are the ones where the talent gets paid reasonably and the buyer has a good chance to get a good return on their investment. Trying to shame teams into over paying for guys in their early 30s, some with glaring blemishes, is not the mark of a guy interested in negotiating a mutually beneficial deal. He sounds more like a guy just looking for a sucker to jump into the scrum and cut a check.
1) The players always demanded market value. Now that the market has changed to their disliking, they want precedent.
Do the players deserve market value or not? If so, there’s no problem.
2) Zero of Boras’ clients have signed. None. Only one of CAA’s clients have signed. A far easier case can be made that the agents are the ones colluding (or just refusing to accept reality en masse).
3) The agents and union need to stop it with the “we can’t believe how many teams aren’t trying to win, the bond between a team and it’s fans, sacred, blah blah” stuff.
Refusing to pay for aging players who almost never deliver anything close to value and not tying up roster spots and financial flexibility in players that don’t help the team is NOT a team breaking a sacred bond to their fans or them not wanting/trying to win.
Quite the opposite, virtually every team that has signed a $100 million plus contract in the last 5 years would gladly take a mulligan because those deals have hurt the team’s ability to win.
You are spot on! What is the end game with Boras’s, and others, public spat? Is his rhetoric going to increase the likelihood that one of his players signs for an absurd contract? I just can’t picture any front office hearing his comments and then going ‘hmmm, Boras is right. I’m not being fair to xyz player. Now that I think about it, our 7-year $147M offer is disrespectful. We really should add another year and another $30M to our offer. It’s much better for us to have an albatross of a contract versus hurting a players, and an agents, feelings. Gosh we are really glad Boras told us how he felt. We feel so bad…’
Agree example off top of my head Ellsbury a boras client. That contracts toxic
When I see, read or hear Scott Boras I always think this is what it would look like if Eric Cartman grew up and got a job.
Scott Boras & other agents are using past contracts as comparables to their current free agents. The problem is that teams are looking differently at players now due to analytics & the newer GM’s aren’t as interested in overpaying to get a player. The GM & owners have changed the way they look at players & as a result, so has their approach to signing free agents. This approach is the way it is now, for better or worse. Now, Boras & the other agents, as well as the players, have to adapt as well.
I also love when the simpletons who are blindly pro player suggest stuff like salary floor and say it will prevent tanking.
If there’s a salary floor right now and a team like day the padres are trying to tank this year while the develop their prospects do you think they would sign a bunch of free agents? No. They would just trade for Matt kemp and take prospects on for him in exchange for a low a RP. Teams would still tank they’d just be forced to take on crappy contracts like kemp and Ellsbury from the top teams who are at the Lux tax.
I swear people just throw out dumb suggestions without even thinking for a second ok what will teams do to still tank?
The top 15 position players by WAR received on average 1.1 Million per WAR, or roughly 10% of accepted market value
Spare me the tears over the cost of a few FA players to owners.
Oh goodie. Now, the media can whine about collusion in MLB. None of us can understand why owners finally grew a pair and decided not to overpay a bunch of .230 hitters and middle rotation starters. Oh, and the hitters who hit better than the Mendoza Line (.215?) want eight year contracts. Yep, just cannot understand it.
“..is simply that not enough teams are making any sort of effort, and their refraining from free agency entirely has eliminated the game’s general spirit of yearly competition (both on the field and on the open market)”.
I strongly disagree with the categorization of that non-competitive teams and the usage of the term “tanking”. It’s usually used in discussions of nba teams that clearly aren’t looking to compete and they trade quality players for bad expiring contracts to create cap space. NBA teams have very limited ways to improve the talent of their teams. A 2 round draft and trades. In mlb you have teams that suck often burdened with players past their prime or with very limited amounts of control of their best assets. Realistically, the Marlins needed to revamp their entire pitching staff. Of the 24 pitchers they trotted out in 2017 only Straily managed to produce 2 WAR. They only had 1 other pitcher score 1 WAR or better. How in the world could they make impacted FA signings to transform them into a contender this winter? I think the Marlins want to win as much as any other team but they can’t go out and sign enough FA starters to be a 90 win team. I think it’s absurd to point to teams who embrace the suck for 2018 and are hoping to make enough savvy trades and great scouting/drafting to stock enough quality prospects to compete 5 years from today. Several teams are 4 to 6 players away from being a 90 win team. Why throw money away to get a marquee player unless they’ll move the needle enough to make them legit contenders?
The penalties for going over the luxury tax and signing players with qualifying offers are too steep. Those two things combined with the fact that most players don’t hit free agency until about 30 years old is why front offices are becoming wary of signing guys. Players Association needs to bargain down the years of team control and the qualifying offer BS or this trend will continue to hurt anyone who didn’t become a MLB regular by the age of 22.
And the guys who are free agents this year really aren’t that great. Hosmer doesn’t really deserve much more than what Belt got in his extension.
The union bargain for this current system they wanted the harsh penalties. Maybe the union doesn’t even know what’s best for them?
The draft picks lost for signing players with qualifying offers are lower in the current CBA. The penalties for going over the luxury tax aren’t really that steep either as long as a team dips under it every few years.
The Dodgers and Yankees are the only teams that were over that want to stay under this year and it’s likely they’ll go over for several years after this one. I don’t think baseball is really hurt by two teams not going nuts for a single off-season. The Dodgers and Yankees are around $30 million lower than they were in 2017, but so are the Orioles, Rangers, Royals, Marlins, and White Sox. The Phillies are down $45 million. The Tigers are down $67 million.
Those 7 teams are $270 million below their 2017 payrolls, dwarfing the $65 million the Yankees and Dodgers have dropped. If those teams had spent that money the Yankee-Dodger drop would hardly be noticed.
I need to hear a RATIONAL validation from Scott Boras on how 5 years and $125 million is NOT a MORE THAN FAIR deal for JD Martinez.
He has played over 150 games ONCE. The next closest is 123 games. He is a mediocre defender. To keep him in the lineup you are basically paying for a DH.
His rational argument is teams have paid for it in the past and should continue to do it this season. He leaves out that most of the bad GMs aren’t GMs anymore and the top teams are hamstrung by the Lux cap. In summary he doesn’t have one he’s just not getting his way and is stomping his feet that’s all
Yeah, but he’s the King Kong of Slug!!! The nickname alone is probably worth a good 50 million.
Not taking anything from JDM, who’s a great hitter, but to say he’s a mediocre defender is a severe understatement. He’s a butcher out there. He should have his glove confiscated. You’re right, he is, or should be, strictly a DH.
Agree and a DH market is no where near av of 25 mil per year and no ones going to give a DH 5 years or more.
Almost 100 years ago players who felt they were underpaid colluded to tank games for money. Do we really want to go there again?
Want to see players skip their conditioning programs after signing a not so great FA deal ? They know they will be labeled as being too old after the contract is up so why bother.
Feeling some aches and pains? Tell the manager you cant play. Dont get paid enough to risk future health.
Did giving Pablo Sandoval a 5 year/8 figure deal stop him from doing that?
Such threats are just all the more reason to only offer cheap one year deals so it’s easy to DFA the players who don’t intend to earn their money.
The players have made enough ill thought out decisions that have come back to bite them already, I’d hope they’d stop digging.
The pa can demand all they want. The owners got the money. No reason for them to not go for anything other than fair market value.
I really like how teams went the trade route more for big names instead of the free agent route
A vote of appreciation to MLBTR for the thorough and evenhanded way they’ve covered this highly controversial and emotional story.
“owners have been spending like idiots for the last several years.” I’m not sure why this can’t continue” this is what Scott Boras is really saying. I’ve been applying this to my IRA. similar results!
“If Mr. Boras spent as much time working on getting his players signed as he does issuing inflammatory and unsubstantiated statements to the press, perhaps the events of this off-season would be different.” Damn, someone tell Dan Halem to chill. Way too savage. Dosen’t matter what Boras says now, theirs no coming back from that. Boras took a bigger L then the Patriots.
No one wants sign a player for a long contract. and that is what players want. organizations have learned their lessons on it. Too many of them do not last as long as their contract.
If a bunch of (slightly) above average to average players want to get drastically overpaid, then they should join the NBA. They’re handing out massive deals to average players these days…. you’d think Chandler Parsons was as good as Kobe if you went off salary.
Boras has always worked around GM’s and sold his clients to the owners. Owners this year so far are letting their baseball people handle it. I would imagine that doesn’t make him happy. He hasn’t kept up with the changes in the market. Teams would rather trade for a controllable player than lose money/value on a long term contract with player of questionable worth. This FA class really isn’t that good.
I grow weary of the “millionaires vs. billionaires” argument as a means of shaming fans for siding with owners over players in contract disputes. Beyond the obvious oversimplification of a complex issue, it fails to take into account that fan loyalty, generally speaking, is to their own team and that most of these mega contracts end up hurting franchises more than helping.
I’m all for players maximizing their values on the open market, but if given a choice between giving 31-year-old Shin Soo Choo a seven-year, $130 million deal or seeing my owner hold onto that money for a more prudent deal down the road, I’m choosing the latter 100 times out of 100.
The players and their agents/union reps piss and moan about how they’re being mistreated and conspired against, but if baseball contracts hadn’t gotten so far out of line with the players’ actual value to their franchises in the first place, the market correction we’re seeing currently never would have been necessary.
When virtually every long-term, big-money deal becomes an albatross by its end, it’s only natural for organizations — and their fans — to view such contracts in a negative light. To try to paint this as a negative commentary on the players or their ability to earn is disingenuous at best. Most clubs and fans would be perfectly content to pay record-high AAV’s for shorter terms in free agency. But the players are too used to getting two or three years (at least) of sunk cost at the end of these contracts to give that up now.
I, for one, hope this offseason starts a sea change in baseball, and that the seven-, eight-, nine-, 10-year contract goes the way of the dodo. They’re bad investments for everyone but the player, fans included.
You make some interesting points, but how do you establish the “actual value” of anything, other than what someone will pay for that thing?
Well there a players that have signed over market this year and players who have Scott boras as an agent. Fans, players and owners know he is terrible to the sport. I generally lean to players getting good contracts, but I’m also partial to people making deals with their hometown team if it works for everyone.
Scott boras would let a players first born son to be sacrificed as a home opener promotion of it meant a lopsided deal in his favor.
I can’t wait for his name to be forgotten, and fall into utter obscurity. He doesn’t care about the fan, the player, the team, but only his worthless fat ass self. I only apologize that my words are far too tame to describe someone who has done so much damage to a beloved sport without recognizing any fault.
“Scott boras would let a players first born son to be sacrificed as a home opener promotion of it meant a lopsided deal in his favor.”
This made me laugh. Well done.
The concept that a third of the teams are tanking is absurd. There are at most 4 teams you can say are on the downward slope of the winning cycle: KC, Det, Pitts and Miami. Those are the only teams that have traded players for prospects this winter.
The rest of the teams fall into one or more categories. There are teams that aren’t spending, but aren’t trading off players for prospects: A’s, Atl., SD, Cin, CWS and TB. Nothing out of the ordinary for Tampa or Oakland. The others are waiting for their prospects to prove themselves. All reasonable baseball decisions.
There seems to be several teams seemingly willing to spend money, maybe just not on the biggest ticket guys: Tex, Balt., Mets and Cards.
You have teams the largest cluster of teams who seem to be willing to compete with what they have or have upgraded through other ways): M’s, LAA, SF, Nats, Clev, Astros, AZ, CO, and Tor.
Teams who have already spent: Philly and Mil.
Teams willing to spend: Bos and Min.
The cap conscious: NYY, LAD, Cubs.
The idea that rebuilding and tanking are the same think is also weak.
Rebuilding is part of a normal cycle in baseball that was created because players were starting to earn too much to keep for their entire careers and teams had to basically take a 10 year budget and pay 75% of it over 5 years and 25% over the other 5 years because you couldn’t afford the best players every single year.
Tanking is trying to lose every single game because you want a top 5 pick.
One is a problem that is bad for the game and the other is a discussion about if you ever want to let small market field competitive teams.
The idea that the first slow market with price declines pretty much ever is hitting a market that has seen huge recent gains isn’t weird or illegal it’s how things work in the real world.
Except that projected prices have not really “declined” across the board.
Both Santana and Cain got BIGGER contracts than they were expected to get.
Boras is whining like a little baby because his marquis FAs are still unsigned and, unless something changes drastically, he’s not going to be able to deliver what he may have promised them.
That’s major egg on his face if it happens – and perhaps it breaks the aura around him -and his effectiveness.
If you go down his list, it appears that:
– Hosmer has reportedly rejected two 100+ offers (he’s nuts – not worth what he’s already been offered)
-JDM wants too many years (IMHO Bosox offered too high an AAV for a DH)
– Arrietta wants too many years and probably too high an AAV
– Moustakas’ ask was so ridiculous that potential suitors immediately looked for alternatives
– Holland reportedly turned down the deal Davis took (real smart!)
If these guys don’t sign for what Boras told them they could get it hurts his brand.
It’s going to have the Harpers, Bryants, Gallos, Confortos, Bogaerts, JBJs, Coles, Rodons, Seagers and others wonder whether the paydays they hired him for are really in their futures. Why not just switch to another agency that has a better track record of getting good-sized extensions?
I really don’t think Pittsburgh doesn’t belong on that list. They traded two over rated players who fold when the stakes get high.
Replacing Cole’s bad season isn’t that hard and Cutch was only good for two months. They had a hole in the infield last year, if Moran is useful, they are better there and they never really had Marte last (he was either out or out of sorts from being out) and will have him.
I think they’ll win at least as many games as they did last year…unless they intentionally tank down the stretch.
And in 2019, they’ll have several of their top 100 prospects in the lineup beginning an upswing.
They aren’t the Marlins or Tigers or, after this year, the Giants who are looking at 3-5 year rebuilds.
I agree. I think the Bucs got decent value – especially for Cole, who has been average the last two seasons.
If I had to place a bet, I’d bet they win more games this year than people think.
Boras must have given his clients some terrible advice for this approach to be justified. His skill has always been in his ability to talk owners into overruling management for a marquee player. HIs entire business plan is built on that ability and unless he wants to say he’s worthless that ability is not simply that he has good players.
My point is that not only is he making the players look really bad to fans but he’s pushing owners to avoid his clients because he’s making it personal and they’re powerful people who hold grudges and will want to make him pay.
Boras is the main reason all of this is happening. A master of selling terrific ball players on long contracts at their peak. The string always attached is the final 3-4 years of mediocrity at multi million dollar prices. It’s ridiculous that he hasn’t let Hosmer sign for 7/147!!! Pushing for that 8th year is also ridiculous!!! He can whine all he wants. Looks like the buck stops here in 2018 with the long contracts into a players mid 30’s and above!!
Boras doesn’t stop any player from signing. Would everyone stop blaming Boras solely for this stuff and put the blame on the players themselves. You sue someone and they offer a settlement the lawyer is legally bound to present it to you and if you don’t accept it and want to go to court that’s on you. The same with the agent and these contracts. Boras or any other agent aren’t holding guns to these players heads.
You are correct, but you seem to ignore the fact that the agent influences the players’ decisions.
This is a good thread. It sounds like (most) You guys have learned what this offseason is. An abberation due to a combination of factors including but not limited to:
1) Mediocre FA asking for the sun and moon.
2) The person always adding fuel to the fire.
3) Typical big market teams like NYY/LAD out.
4) Rejection solid offers 5 years $125M (JD) 7 $147M (Hosmer)
5) Every top FA has a legitimate flaw that would concern most teams overpaying. Moose’s OBP. JD defense. Arrieta trending downward (while turn 32 March) Cobb staying healthy (this year’s 179.1 IP career high) Hosmer (Never hit more than 20 homers before 2016) (Never slugged .500+) — (Career .439 slugging percentage)
6) Next year is the End-All-Be-all FA class.
Isn’t the obvious answer to this whole thing related to teams trying to stay out of the luxury tax? The MLB and owners did this to themselves by basically agreeing to a soft cap that is being viewed at the moment as a hard cap. The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs would all have another marquee free agent right now if it weren’t for the luxury tax and this would no longer be an issue.
The Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox might also ” all have another marquee free agent right now if it weren’t for the” dead-money contracts they already have on their books.
FTFY.
I’m not a fan of Boras, but he is very good at what he does. He’s correct in calling out MLB and the owners although there is enough blame to go around to the players and agents as well. It reminds me of this country, we’re all in the same game everybody, no need to choose a side, let’s meet in the middle you greedy f****s.
I really do think Boris is holding a gun to these players heads because he may tell them take the money this is the offer.But then he says ” but if I were you I wouldn’t take it and then he brings out The locker room tapes etc.etc.
Al Avila ruined the Tigers with his stupid free agent signings (like Pelfrey and Lowe), forcing them into rebuild mode. Now, he’s ruining MLB. If the Tigers were in the market for an outfielder and a starting pitcher, there would be more competition for the free agents, and the players would be getting what they are asking for..
Fuck you, Scott Boras, you fucking asshole.
Alexander … tell us how you really feel! Lol
The Players and their Union need to focus on undoing the years of control and arbitration currently enjoyed by the owners. Whatever the odd bad long term contract teams are stuck with, absolutely pales in comparison to the economic benefits of having young stellar players locked up at way below market value. Players need to go on strike.
Let them go on strike! Let them walk. I dare them.
Luckily, agents aren’t known for leaking figures, sometimes false figures, to drive up the markets on players. Makes far more sense for MLB teams to leak the asking prices so that other teams might have an idea where their budget restrictions lie.
Scott Boras got burned back in the 2014 offseason holding out with Kendrys Morales. This might be the year he gets scorched.
He got burned with JD Drew or JD Drew got burned by Boras
Some players like Martinez want 6 years & $30mil+ but I do not blame teams for saying no to those demands. 5yrs/$125m is not a bad contract & if I am Martinez I would just require a opt out after year 1 or 2.
In regards to the rest of the market I smell some sort of collusion going on & that is what Boras is referring to.
Nice article. I’m about to take a shower to wash off the stink of agreeing with Boras.
While the mlbpa signs labor deals I don’t agree is up to them to design the competitive system of major league baseball.
I suppose it is when you have a serious dunce like Manfred running the owners but why are they responsible for making sure owners spend money and teams have incentive to be competitive besides, you know, that’s the point of sports.
Boros is the problem. Every year he has a free agent or two wait until spring training to sign. This year he has several clients on the highend and those below are waiting for the trickle down which is clogging up the entire marketplace.
There is another negative impact on free agency caused by tanking that I do not see many people talking about. When the tanking teams are in tear down mode (Marlins, etc), not only are they not buying FAs, they are also selling players like Yelich and Reamulto that can fill the needs on the teams that otherwise might be buyers. Perhaps there would be some additional competition for JDM’s services if the Cards, Brewers and Yankees had not filled needs via Miami. This is not some evil plot, it’s just another factor in the current system that invents teams to take years off from competing
Well, yes. It’s already documented that the majority of teams are starting the season pre-deciding that they aren’t going to even try to compete. I don’t know how that can be changed but pretty clearly if fewer teams were completely dealing themselves out of the game in any given year, a lot of the other issues would work themselves out.
Teams have been selling off players for decades now. Marlins have done it multiple times now. It’s only a problem now because Boras represents to many of the top free agents. Every year the guy has guys signing in, or right before free agency. He’s what’s wrong with this offseason,and his negotiating strategy is gonna cause a strike.
Seriously, you didn’t think it was crazy when it came out he was looking for 8-200 for Martinez? And Lynn and Cobb asking for 20 per. They’re solid, not aces. And even “the aces”, Darvish and Arrietta aren’t really aces. Teams wouldn’t be trading to fill needs if the market offered better options, but it don’t this year.
Boras is only one agent among many, and the one who happens to most enjoy hearing the sound his own voice. He may be a loudmouth, but being loud and abrasive does not make him all powerful.
I know lots of fans are into figuring out what a player is really “worth” but I don’t know how that worth number can be arrived at ultimately without looking at what players actually get, and that’s going to be a function of the market for players. If in a given season several teams are in of need of a top-end starting pitcher, and the pickings are slim, then you’d expect the available players would get more than if the opposite was the case. It doesn’t matter whether they’d be called an “ace” in anybody’s book. It’s a function of supply and demand
It’s also pretty obvious this year the teams that would be most likely to spend $20m a year for Lynn or Cobb (or more for Darvish or Arrietta) are out of the market due to the luxury tax reset. So that’s a strong downward force on the demand side.
Man… Boras needs to shut his mouth.
He needs to learn that fans care more about their teams then the free agents. I’d rather see my team make a smart signing and leave themselves in a better position, then sign some free agent from another team that I don’t care about.
Fans only care about the players, if the players show loyalty and trust with the fans. If a player jumps ship to sign with another team… why should the fans care about what that player gets paid? He left the team. he didn’t show the fans any loyalty. Why should the fans be on the player’s side? I want my team to win and do well. Not some free agent who walked.
I get that players want to get paid… but if all they’re doing in seeking max deals, and that’s their ONLY consideration, then they can go pound sand and cry all they want. Fans will show loyalty and faith to players that show fans loyalty and faith. Players/agents can’t expect it to be a one way street.
How many owners are just waiting for next year when the elite free agents hit the market?
I own a business. Every year I compete with other businesses to secure contracts.
I have the right to set my price, and make as much money as I can. I own the business, and invested my money in it, and can operate it any way I choose.
My clients have the right to choose my offers, or the competitions offers.
MLB team owners have the same rights to choose who they hire.
FA’s have the right to accept or decline the offers.
Maybe a bad analogy, but pretty much sums things up IMO
The rise of analytics has informed front offices around the game that, under most circumstances, signing these mid-tier free agents is a waste of money. Guys who are only a win or two above replacement in their late-twenties or early-thirties are more likely to dip closer to replacement level than to show an uptick in production. Developing a farm system that can churn out players who can provide that one-to-two win above replacement production for an AAV under $1 million is a far superior option than paying full retail prices on B-and-C-level free agents.
The role of analytics in all of this seems overrated. The teams have long known that big free agent contracts are inefficient, but they sign them anyway. If they don’t do it, someone else will. It’s the cost fielding a competitive team. Competition is rarely cost-effective.
And ask yourself why fielding a team made up of players raised through a farm system is so much less expensive. It’s because players are drafted in a cost-controlled environment, and held for six years in a cost-controlled environment. This system was created by both the players and owners. The players agreed this system because it gives them the opportunity for a market rate payday when their minor league contracts expire after six years.
If that system breaks down (for whatever reason), then in the future the players aren’t going to agree to giving owners so much cost control at the drafting and farm level. Chop a year off the minor league contract length or alter the arbitration rules and see what happens. Sure feels like where we are headed.
I’d be interested to see what the future solution is for this from the side of the Players Association. Everyone’s just complaining that nobody’s backed up the money truck to these players doors with enough cheddar on top. That’s it. Nobody’s acknowledging the relative weakness and age of these free agents with regards to the slots needed to be filled in the teams that are looking to contend. I’m sure every team would love to THINK that signing JD Martinez to 7 years and 200m+ is going to be the thing that boosts them from last to first, but that’s now how Baseball tends to work is it? There are too many positions where even exemplary MVP contributions are overshadowed by mediocre or below replacement play that you can’t just get one guy or two guys and now you’ve got a winner. It’s not like signing LeBron or a new Quarterback which will change your entire team, you’ve still gotta get 4 other pitchers out there even if one guy wins 35 games in 35 starts. That makes breaking the bank for a pitcher like Darvish a pretty poor idea if your team doesnt already have those other 4 starters that can hold up their end of things AND you assume Darvish won’t get hurt (he will) AND you’ve got guys who can hit.
Lots of math goes into this other than “dang, we need to throw money at one player and make sure we’re paying them elite money regardless of future performance which science says will almost definitely not happen after 34-35′ and it’s time for Boras and others to suck it up and admit it.