Red Sox GM Theo Epstein in a post-midnight conference call [said] he and CEO Larry Lucchino flew to southern California, unsolicited, for a meeting with agent Scott Boras in the Daisuke Matsuzaka negotiations.First: the offer doesn't have to satisfy Boras. It has to satisfy Matsuzaka.
Epstein said the team plans to make another offer tomorrow, one that will be the largest ever given to a player who has never played in the big leagues, and the largest given to a Japanese player. But it remains to be seen if that will satisfy Boras ...
A feisty John W. Henry, frustration evident in his voice, said: "I think it's also fair to say we're on Scott Boras's doorstep because he hasn't negotiated with us so far. We're taking the fight directly to him to try to have a negotiation here."
Second: Damn nice work from Boras, ignoring the Sox by using the only leverage he has: the clock.
Third: What are the numbers of "the largest [contract] ever given to a player who has never played in the big leagues, and the largest given to a Japanese player"?
Probably Hideki Matsui's 4/52. ... I'm guessing DM signs for 5/55, which while a few dollars less per season, is a larger total package.
Boras had better be communicating with his young client. If not, that is wrong.
ReplyDeleteI say 5/75. It has to be big.
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth wouldn't Boras be communicating with Matsuzaka? I think by now we can assume Scott Boras knows how to do his job.
ReplyDeleteWhy on earth wouldn't Boras be communicating with Matsuzaka?
ReplyDeleteSome people think Boras is more concerned with making $ for Boras.
I think this deal will be much more creative than a straight X dollars per year for X years.
One proposal from SoSH that I liked:
5 years at escalating amounts:
6-6-10-13-16, followed by two option yearss at 20 that kick in with some IP incentive along the way. This deal would guarantee 5/51 with the potential for 7/91.
The Sox get their man for about 10 per to start -- and if he's one of the best pitchers in baseball, the Sox will rightly reward him as such on the back end.
How many Boston sportswriters do you think have their "Boras Is Evil" column already written?
ReplyDeleteBoras can be painted the bad guy no matter what happens -- he either demanded too much and lost us a pitcher or he's the reason your Fenway beer is $10.
All the writers have to do is slug in the $ amounts and the stories'll be ready to go. It's beyond cliche.
Why on earth wouldn't Boras be communicating with Matsuzaka?
ReplyDeleteSome people think Boras is more concerned with making $ for Boras.
Oh sorry, that was a rhetorical question.
I just think all the contempt of Scott Boras is silly. The man does his job extremely well. His job isn't to please the fans, or the owners, or to be liked.
We don't know how he deals with his clients, because that's between him and those clients.
Label this chapter The Predictable Bashing of Scott Boras Just Before and After The Deal Gets Done.
Here we go, posting at the same time again...
ReplyDeleteIf Boras really wants a $120M deal, why don't the Sox take him at face value and offer $12/year for ten years?
ReplyDeleteThe Sox may very well have a legitimate law suit for bad faith against him, and if they don't sign Dice, I hope they have the guts to make Boras pay. They should also serve notice that any player who chooses him as an agent can cross off the Boston Red Sox as a team willing to run up his free agency contract price.
ReplyDeleteAfter that, let's flap our arms and fly to the moon! I hear the moon men are serving chocolate cake with no calories!
If it doesn't happen ..........I think Theo will go down in the media not Boras...Remember the Boston Media.....
ReplyDeleteBoras only wants to give the kid 3 years at least that's what I heard earlier and Theo want's to give 5...
will see I am still sticking with 4/52
Speaking of a conflict of interests, the international posting system inherently implicates a serious conflict issue for the agents as the agent's interest is not completely aligned w/ the player's interest. Whether or not this Dice deal goes through, I guess, Bud Selig needs to give a thought on the current system.
ReplyDeleteOnly bad thing about California is that I can never get in on the conversation until after the eastern time zone goes to sleep. But at the risk of no one ever reading this I'll put in my two cents.
ReplyDeleteJack Marshall is absolutely right-that is why I think the Sox are going to offer big money for Dice-K. The Sox have to show, without a doubt, that the offer they give Dice-k is in his best interest to sign now. If Boras really has Matsuzaka's best interest, he has to tell him to take the money. There is no guarantee that any other option (bucking the current system, trying again next year etc.)will pan out for him. If Boras tells his client to refuse, then the Sox have a great case to sue him for bad faith. It is bad enough that Boras wouldn't meet or counter (you may argue that Boras' press conference was the counter) but there is no way you have your client's best interest or you are negotiating in good faith if you turn down or do not counter a contract that is higher than any offered previously for a Japanese player debuting in the major leagues. Especially when that player publicly has stated that he desires to play in the major leagues in 2007. It only shows that Boras did not want to negotiate from the beginnig and if I paid $51 million for the right to negotiate-you better believe that I would expect a meeting or at least a counter.
One has to wonder if this is even about Matsuzaka anymore. This smells to me like war between Boras and the Sox.
It smells like a flaming pile of doo-doo to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of defending Boras, but I'm going to anyway. He has no obligation to negotiate in good faith. If the Sox don't negotiate in good faith then the 2nd highest posting offer can be accepted. There are no consequences built into the system to make Boras negotiate in good faith.
ReplyDeleteI want to make it clear that I'm not saying I like the situation, just that there are no remedies for it.