O.K. I can’t really have my personal archives as the thing folks will first eyeball when they come here. Therefore, I’d better post something else. As of right now, I cannot be sure if anybody but me has read this blog. Sure I could promote it, add it to Ball-Hype, post a link at my Hardball Times bio, put the word out to my fellow scribes and bloggers so we can exchange links etc. but is that where I want this to go?
The fact that I’m doing this online rather than simply griping on my hard drive probably says that I want this to go public. On the other hand, I would like to see how this grows on its merits rather than actively promoting it. For now, I’m cool with this being my private corner of the web where I can grouse, whine and bellyache over anything that irks me without worrying about someone writing: “Hey, knucklehead, this is crap--you suck buddy!” when I’m simply venting my spleen.
I also think that I’m trying to stretch my writing/creative muscles a bit and am using this as a ‘gym’ of sorts. Things are getting more expensive and getting another gig would help. I have no plans to leave the Hardball Times or MSN Canada that is why I have to get into ‘shape’ so to speak. I’ll be starting my fourth year with THT this January and while the pay isn’t great admittedly, I do think we’re evolving into something pretty special. I get a certain ‘writing mojo’ from being on staff there that I’d be an idiot to give up. There’s also a feeling of gratitude towards them for reviving what was a flagging career and finally it’s just too much gosh-darned fun to stop doing. There is something to be said for quality of life and personal enjoyment in one’s career choice.
Moreover, they’re a pretty sharp bunch who have increased my knowledge and love for the game and made me a better writer. I hope if I am offered another job that they don’t want me exclusively. Obviously, I’d have to think long and hard about it and it would break my heart to leave--as silly as it sounds, I just can’t seeing myself doing it. I’d probably do the economically dumb thing and hope something else comes up.
I guess I’ll just have to see what happens when the time comes.
I’ve already submitted by MSN column for the week--more drivel on the Mitchell Report and I think I’ll do my Hardball Times article on my third favourite dynamic duo dum-dums (Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez). For the record, probably to no one’s surprise, the top spots go to Bud Selig and Bob Dupuy as well as Jeffrey Loria and David Samson. I’ve must admit, Don Fehr and Gene Orza are getting up there as well. It must pain Marvin Miller to see all his hard work come undone courtesy over his one time second-in-command.
They say a there’s a fine line between genius and insanity and I think Boras is right on it. If I had to hazard a guess, I think (yes, I do that occasionally) Boras wishes to demonstrate to prospective bidders about the value A-Rod has for a team. Getting equal media play with a Red Sox team winning a second World Series in four years--unthinkable earlier in the aught--is Boras’s way to demonstrate how big his client is. Rodriguez can capture bold-print, front-page headlines even when the biggest moment of the season is underway. It creates an unstated question in team owners’ minds: How can a player like that not be a huge revenue beast?
It’s Boras’s subtle, while not so subtle way of stating: "Now sit back and think about how that will translate into advertising revenue, television and local network contracts. It provides justification for raising ticket and concession prices, ballpark signage and anything else you can dream up." Best of all, you don’t even need to win the Fall Classic to enjoy the economic benefits. It also explains why Rodriguez's post-season failures will be discounted in Boras’s brochure--those flops are unimportant in making money for your club. He can earn you World Series level revenues even if you finish in last place.
Of course, it just gives fans in every major league city yet another reason to despise his client. Let’s face it, despite his apologies Boras knew exactly what he was doing. The guy fancies himself the Jedi master of P.R. so I doubt he'd 'accidentally' commit such an egregarious faux pas like upstaging the World Series. He did it to make a point.
Further, he all but flips the bird to the richest team in baseball. He avoids sitting down and talking to hear an offer, despite having 10 days to do so and even before the season is officially over, he leaves a message with the Yankees, and lets the media know. He couldn’t even wait to talk to a live Yankee representative before saying CIAO! Not only that, it’s a move which makes it $21 million more expensive (plus the 40 percent luxury tax) for the Yankees to sign Rodriguez and then he turns around and wonders why the they are so upset. You'd think a guy who uses $100 bills as spunk rags understands that folks don't like finding out their pockets are over $20 million lighter via IM.
“Intellectually, Alex is tying to understand the difference between his free agency and that of Mariano and Posada.” Alex Rodriguez has never said he does not want to be a Yankee. Filing for free agency doesn’t mean that. Because Rivera and Posada are free agents doesn’t mean they don’t want to be Yankees.”
Geez you opt out even before hearing what the Yankees have to say, even before your 10-day opt out period has had a chance to start and he thinks that’s a dandy way to say “I really want to be a Yankee! Yes I do!” It’s like trying to pick up a girl at a bar by telling her she’s fat, ugly, when she opens her mouth her breath reeks like a just-opened exhumed casket plus you think she’s a walking STD colony and being stunned that she dumped her drink on your head and stormed out of the place.
Either Boras overestimated Rodriguez’s value to the Yankees or he already has a sweet offer on the table from another club. The latter is unlikely since once A-Rod is away from the Yankees, the illicit offer doesn’t have to remain on the table. Before you can have a shot at Rodriguez you have to get him out of his contract. An under the table offer accomplishes that, but there’s no necessity to honour it until they see where the bidding goes.
I have no idea how this is going to play out. We know A-Rod can rake, but he’s older, he’s weaker defensively at a less important position, has post season baggage, and will soon have to play first base, left field or DH. Further, the way they opted out coupled with the fact that 252 is loathed by so many and saying in effect “It’s not enough, I want more!” while leaving your second winning situation for money and doing so with the most despised (or close to it) person in baseball…
It really isn’t the sort of guy the fans are going to embrace. Oh his new team will love him in the short term but Rodriguez is going to be treated like toxic waste on the road. Once his bat slows down and folks see that much money not producing then who knows?
The sad thing about all this is--fair or not--A-Rod is known for money, big stats and October failure. Is there any other all time great that has no team they are best known for playing on? Right now it’s Team Boras. Oh well, if Rodriguez really wants to win back the public it won’t really be overly difficult. A public firing of his agent will win back many fans.
(shakes head)
It’s going to be a long winter.
Best Regards
John
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Wednesday, October 31
TPoSGD: October 31, 2007 - The Boras Morass
by
Joe Hamrahi
on Wed 31 Oct 2007 12:12 PM EDT
Monday, October 29
TPoSGD: October 29, 2007 - A-Rod is great, so is...?
by
Joe Hamrahi
on Mon 29 Oct 2007 12:41 PM EDT
First things first, I have to make good on a threat made yesterday where I said I’d post my recent articles on A-Rod’s opt out. I have actually written six (three very recently, and three over the last year), and I doubt I’ll stop there. Anyway, from most recent on down:
Sunday, October 28
TPoSGD: October 28, 2007 - Boras to Tears?
by
Joe Hamrahi
on Sun 28 Oct 2007 12:44 PM EDT
Probably the toughest part about being a columnist is trying to find a subject about what to write. Many of the ramblings you’ll read here are my attempts to come up with subject matter. I bat ideas around, throw stuff on the word processor and see what sticks. Now I’m stumped. Nevertheless, I could have an idea or two if basic professionalism didn’t get in the way.
The thing is, as far as baseball’s finances go, I tend to side with the players. They’re the ones laying it on the line and could be one play away from retirement. Don’t get me wrong, the owners invest a lot in these guys and deserve a decent return on investment. The thing that bothers me is when somebody is sympathetic to that point of view but dirties the water for everybody. You see, baseball has always suffered when a given party accumulates too much power. When owners had it, they could blacklist players, keep entire races from playing the game and exploiting the game’s greats only to toss them aside like a dirty burger wrapper when they were no long useful. When the players union developed too much clout, it made things onerous on small revenue clubs and their fans. Don Fehr once suggested that if Pittsburgh and Montreal couldn’t afford monster contracts then baseball should leave those cities--their fans (I was one of them) be damned. While management deserves its share of the blame in the whole steroid mess, the MLBPA made it easy not to tackle the problem head on due to its intransigence. Why fight it if the union will fight to the death to protect the players’ right to break the law and force borderline talent to choose between a major league career and unknown health consequences after their playing days are over? Even players felt the long reach of the MLBPA; encouraged to accept the biggest contract offered rather than using their own criteria to decide where the next path in their major league career should go. Now it’s an agent, more pointedly, Scott Boras. I’ll be honest; I have little use for the man. I’m hoping that this A-Rod negotiation blows up in his face and Rodriguez ends up with less money per annum than he had if he hadn’t opted out (assuming he does) of his contract with the Yankees. Then I hope he fires Boras. Rodriguez is a man who strikes me as knowing what he wants until he sits down with his agent. It was Boras’s goading that caused A-Rod to make his comments regarding Derek Jeter in Esquire. A-Rod is a wealthy man, but 252 has been a shadow he cannot escape, as are his comments seven years ago. Now Boras has convinced him to make himself more of a pariah by leaving his second winning situation for money. It seems Scott Boras is more concerned about what Rodriguez can do for him rather than the other way around. A-Rod stated in 2001, “I wanted to be a Met. I've always wanted to be a Met, I've been a Met fan since I was a kid. And I would've played there for less money and less years and they know that.” The Mets unquestionably had interest as well. Therefore, how could Boras not negotiate a marriage based on mutual interest? Possibly because the Mets had what A-Rod wanted and not what Boras wanted. This isn’t about the opt-out however, I’ve dealt with it in other locales and I'll post the links after they go live. Where Boras’s power is hurting the game is at the amateur level. He likes to portray himself as a defender of the helpless. He would have more credibility with that claim were his work done pro bono. It’s about money like everything else he does. The draft was initially set up to aid competitive balance; giving struggling teams the first crack at top amateur talent. What happens now is, due to Boras’s involvement, is he represents that top talent and requests outrageous signing bonuses that cause teams with lower revenues to pass on them and they fall in the draft to--you guessed it, the successful wealthy teams. It explains why that, despite always being among the last teams to draft, clubs like the Yankees, Red Sox etc. always seem to have these blue chip prospects while teams like the Royals and Pirates continue to struggle. Players like A-Rod, Albert Pujols, Johan Santana (soon), Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez etc. deserve the big bucks because they are among the best in the world at what they do. They’ve paid their dues and should reap the rewards of investing so much hard work to develop their considerable talents. To play in professional sports requires special genetic gifts. To reward high school or college players with outrageous sums of money for being fortunate enough to have these gifts but haven’t proven they can develop them seems instinctively wrong. That money belongs to those who have proven they can perform at the sport’s highest level. Yes, there should be bonuses for the simple reason that they are looking at as many as 10-12 years before they cash in and certainly there should be some compensation for the time they will invest. However, to demand to be set for life before you touch a ball in the professional game is nonsensical. I know there are risks for these kids. Life is a risk, not studying in school is a risk, choosing a profession where you know the high attrition rate going in is a risk. Why should the risk be taken away from your life and not for every person in high school or college? The trouble is, besides the problems with the draft itself are, trying for the maximum bonus at all costs can be disastrous. Matt Harrington blew a chance at millions for a few extra thousand, other players lose precious development time holding out or re-entering the draft. Why did A-Rod get a quarter billion dollars in 2001? One thing was talent, the other was he was just 24-25 when he hit the market. Every year older you are when you become a free agent costs many millions of dollars more than what you hoped to gain by holding out for a year or two until somebody met your agent’s price. Getting back to Boras, when he’s negotiating these draft picks’ contracts, he tries to get them into the major leagues as quickly as possible to start their service clock for arbitration and free agent rights. To do so, he tries to get major league contracts for these kids after they’re drafted. When this happens, the player is kept on the roster regardless of whether his play merits the spot. The spot he’s taking up may well be leaving a more deserving player behind is destroying any sense of baseball’s meritocracy. Yes, nobody forced the team into having to do that, but it’s still cheating a more deserving player since the team doesn’t want to lose their investment by exposing him to waivers. I admire Alex Rodriguez as a player. Somebody who wins (I am assuming) three MVP, two Gold Gloves at a tough defensive position, put up three 50 HR seasons averaging 47 long balls per year and was an All Star every year of the contract to date can certainly be said to be earning every blessed dollar of his deal. However, I do feel that Boras going down in flames, being fired by Rodriguez while suffering a huge drop in credibility and influence will serve the game well. Boras needs to be taken down a notch and I hope that baseball management will do just that by keeping their heads and wits about them and understanding what Alex Rodriguez can, and more importantly, can not do for their teams. I’m not optimistic though. As Liam Neeson said (as Qui-Gon Jinn) in The Phantom Menace: “Greed can be a powerful ally” and Boras is counting on his old ally to again make Alex Rodriguez a very wealthy pariah. Best Regards John |
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