Looks like K-Rod’s old agent really did mess up that bad.

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EPIC FAIL

What may be best for his clients is not necessarily the best for the team and its fans. The McDonald analogy is off by a mile, because the money will get spent anyway. Boras will play teams against one another. And a franchise favorite player may end up getting more money than he’s really worth because you have the Red Sox and Yankees or whoever who will gladly swoop and pay that player the mega-millions Boras is demanding. This reduces payroll flexibility teams may end up shooting themselves in overspending on a specific player and under-spending in other areas of need.

Boras emphasizes the individual. But baseball is team sport and the fans support the team first and foremost. They want players to get their fair share but anything above perceived market value makes the fans upset because they see the player as greedy when he’s already earning millions of $$. There’s a severe disconnect because a fan won’t ever earn even a 10th of that kind of money so they ask: Jeez, do you really need 20 MM a year? Can’t you be happy with 17 MM? The team could use that extra 3 MM to get that quality middle relief guy we’re missing. And if the team balks they may lose a productive player or fan favorite to a higher bidder.

That’s why Halladay was so beloved in Toronto. He frequently signed under market value to help the team clear payroll to get better players. The Jays never got it together but that’s not his fault and after a long time Halladay decided he would seek a contender but still wanted the trade to be fair and even took a page long ad on the toronto newspaper thanking the city and the organization.

I have to wonder if the record-breaking deal Holliday (St. Louis) signed is going to be rued. Scott Boras engineered that one, and many a fan has screamed his headoff when Holliday under-performed. That’s because they perceive the cardinals paid above market value for him. And some are wondering if that’s going to the big reason Pujols leaves St. Louis this year because now St. Louis won’t be able to affor Pujols and Holliday without possibly gutting the future of the team. Speculation of course.

Boras foments the culture of the mercenary baseball player. In the movie Major League II one of the antagonists is the free agent Jack Parkman who has extraordinary talent but at the end of the day is all about the $$$$. There’s a REASON that kind of guy is viewed as a BAD guy.

The distribution I speak of is that this attitude engenders a rich get richer dynamic and poor stay poor dynamic. It’s compensated somewhat by revenue sharing and the draft but it’s nowhere near as competitive as Bud Selig would have us believe. He’s all about how different teams have made the WS. News flash Bud the big reason for that is that post-season tends to be a crapshoot. Not necessarily the best team will win the WS. A far better indicator is league standings year in year out. When was the last time you saw KC end higher than 3rd? Or Baltimore? When was the last time the Yankees were dead last?

I guess as the MLB pie grows (and it has grown by a lot in the last 10 years) the players will definitely want their fair slice. League payroll and other developments convince me the revenue distribution is seriously out of wonk and this man is doing a lot of the wonking.

Tell me this: If you could have someone represent you for your next job performance appraisal/raise negotiation, who would it be?
Correct answer: Scott Boras

You could end that sentence with any words and it wouldn’t surprise me.

As long as they do have something worked out for K-Rod’s contract kicker.