Dodgers Draft College Boy

Chris Reed.

From "Dodgers draft Stanford lefty Reed 16th" by Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Although Reed hit the Dodgers' radar as a reliever, [Logan] White sees him as a Major League starter.

"I think he can definitely start," White said. "He's big, strong. He throws 92-95 [mph] with a hard slider 80-85 and actually has a good changeup. I could see him become one of our best left-handed pitching prospects. I definitely want to make him a starter."

White said that Reed had been on the Dodgers' radar since last fall, and he made a big impression last week closing out a postseason game against Cal State Fullerton, with White and Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda watching.

"He was in a tough environment, throwing 94, 95 -- didn't show any fear," said White. "It was a good catch, seeing him right before the Draft." [...]

And there is the [Scott] Boras factor, although White did all he could to downplay the bitterness that might linger from the contentious Hochevar negotiations.

"I'm confident," said White. "I would never say it's a slam dunk, but I'm fairly confident about it. It's an honorable, good family. I think the kid really wants to play; he's given us every indication that he wants to go play. He wants to start.

"Scott and I get along fine. I've had fine dialogue with the Boras Corp. I don't have resentment from that standpoint. There's always some concern. Like last year, I felt we would sign [Zach Lee], but I couldn't say 100 percent. This is the same way."

The Dodgers sure love their pitchers, don't they?

photo by Zach Sanderson/StanfordPhoto.com

Scott Boras, Human

Scott Boras, agent for Nick Adenhart, breaks down during yesterday's news conference at Angels Stadium.

You make it difficult for us to mock you when you show emotion, Mr. Boras.

photo: Carlson/AP

$50 Million?!?!?!?

Getting his b--- squishing vice ready, Boras is about to blow the roof off the rookie market with his rumored $50 million price tag on Stephen Strasburg. The kid sounds like the real deal. Though for that cost, I'd rather get...

Details of Andruw Jones' Contract Emerge

Ah. Now it's starting to make sense.

How, we've wondered, could Andruw Jones, our $36 million dollar man, a guy who was the 6th youngest player in history to reach 340 HRs, hit only 3 HRs and 14 RBIs? Was he injured? Did he have psychological problems? Was he suffering from steroid withdrawal?

In short, was there something we didn't know about?

Turns out, there was.

As you may remember, Boras was originally looking for something in the neighborhood of 5 years/$100 million for his client. It has recently been uncovered that he eventually agreed to 2 years/$36 million only on the condition that one key clause be included: deferred production.

Turns out the contract was heavily back-loaded production-wise, with only meager obligations up front. The contract stipulated that in 2008, Jones was obligated to produce only 2 HRs or 10 RBIs (numbers he reached). However, in subsequent years, Jones' production was to steadily increase as follows:

• 2009, 12 HRs or 45 RBIs
• 2010, 25 HRs or 80 RBIs
• 2011, 30 HRs or 90 RBIs
• 2012, a balloon production payment of 45 HRs or 130 RBIs.

Asked Monday about this until-now secret clause, Ned Colletti was quick to defend his handiwork. "We felt ok with deferring Andruw's production in return for less money. It would give our young guys the opportunity to fill the offense void in the short term, and in doing so, they'd gain the confidence that would result in a steady uptick in their numbers over the next few years..."

Colletti then added, with just a hint of a grin, "...precisely when Andruw's production would kick in."

When it was then noted that most of Jones' production was scheduled for after the contract's expiration, Frank McCourt quickly interceded with the bizarre (and angry) reply, "hey now, remember that this was negotiated over a year ago. At that time, neither you nor I nor anybody else saw this economic crisis coming."

Scott Boras: Separated at Birth

Reading my 100th article about Manny Ramirez's contract dispute, a thought entered my head: the uber-agent Scott Boras

looks just like famed character actor Michael Rooker (JFK, Mallrats, Cliffhanger, Meet Wally Sparks).

Let's see if you can correctly identify who's who.

Boras and (insert team owner's name here)??

Boras' true face, revealed when he gets his first $40 million a year salary?

And coming soon to a Netflix queue near you:

Manny NPV'ing Manny

I beg to differ, at least partially, from Sax. Great minds don't always think alike. And in this case, neither do ours. Please allow me to explain my reasoning:

Now, McCourt-bashing may be addictive, often deserved, and good for the soul, but he obviously understands the time value of money. After all, that's precisely why the deferrals are in there to begin with, right? So let's look at his latest offer as objectively and hyperbole-free as possible, and I think you might see it's not an idiot's spawn after all (the shadiness with how it was communicated in the initial press release, on the other hand, may have been).

Specifically, let's compare this latest offer to the two other relevant offers:

• The original 2-year $45 million offer (with no player option) made back in November, and
• The 'phantom' 2-year $45 million offer without deferred payments that McCourt apparently wanted us to believe he made.

And to make sure we're not pulling a Plaschke by passing judgment based on misinformation, let's establish the facts on each offer up front (please verify and correct if necessary, and I will recalculate):

November Offer:

• $15 million in 2009
• $22.5 million + 7.5 million in 2010
• No player exit option

'Phantom' Offer (i.e., what McCourt may have hoped we'd think he offered):

• $25 million in 2009
• Player option for $20 million more in 2010

Actual Offer:

• $10 million in 2009, and...

...after 2009, player has two options:

• He can exit, in which case he gets paid $15 million more sometime between 2010 to 2013; or
• He can stay, in which case he gets $35 million more, as follows:
  • $10 million in 2010
  • $10 million in 2011
  • $10 million in 2012
  • $5 million in 2013

Are we all in agreement so far?

Now, two more things before we NPV these bad boys to determine their true present value:

• I don't know what discount rate Boras is using to come up with his valuations, but thanks to a heads up from commenter ken, we'll use the fed's official risk-free rate of 3.8%.
• I'm assuming payments are made at the beginning of each year. Don't know if this is true, but as long as this assumption is used across all three offers, it's apples-to-apples.

So here we go:

• November Offer value: $43.9m
• Phantom Offer value: $44.3m
• Actual Offer value: $42.2m. If Manny's tax rate increases from 35% to 39.6% after 2010, this reduces the equivalent pre-tax value to around $40.6m*.

So this tells me that:

• The Actual Offer is worth around $2.1 to $3.7 million less (depending on what happens with tax rates) than what Frank might have been hoping we'd believe (i.e., the Phantom offer). Shame on you Frank if you thought you could invoke the "I did all I could" card without fans understanding the deferred payment impacts. While I personally think you've already done more than you should to sign Manny, don't misrepresent what had been offered.
• On the other hand, the analysis also tells me that, when contrasted with the November Offer, McCourt is essentially offering a player's option exit clause in exchange for $1.7 to $3.3 million (again, depending on tax rate changes). Considering there are no other serious bidders, it seems very reasonable to me (hey, if the Giants or anyone else wants to pay what Boras wants, be my guest).

In anycase, Frank, please stand pat and don't capitulate to Boras' latest counteroffer. Why let him dictate terms when he has no leverage? You know what I want you to do. Nonetheless, I know emotion usually trumps all, so I suspect Kelly Clarkson and I will be met with a lot of disagreement. Let's hear it.

*offer is worth approx $24 million if he exits after 2009, depending on when the additional $15 million is paid.

The Big Compromiser?

From Diamond:

Manny Ramirez is speaking out, and he's willing to "compromise" and accept deferred payments in a contract to re-sign with the Dodgers, agent Scott Boras said in a statement Sunday.

Boras said Ramirez directed him to make the Dodgers a third two-year contract proposal "with some deferred compensation," placing the value of the contract at $43.5 million. The second-year player option was not specified in the statement, but was something Boras wanted included in previous two-year offers.

Ramirez apparently now wants a contract in between the two-year, $45 million contract without deferrals that Boras proposed on Friday and the team's two-year, $45 million offer with deferrals that Boras values at $42 million.

Did I Say $45 Million? Sorry, I Meant $10 Million

Now that the smoke has cleared from the Dodgers' fourth attempt to sign Manny Ramirez, one which blew up with Ramirez rejecting the Dodgers' offer and the Dodgers hurriedly issuing a press release trying to position themselves as the victim, one realizes that the guy with egg on his face isn't Ramirez, or even the devil that goes by the name of Scott Boras. No, the idiot here is, unsurprisingly enough, Frank McCourt, whose disingenuousness shone through after details of the deal made their way out later on Friday.

Thursday, McCourt's press release made it sound like the Dodgers' deal was simple: two years, $25M in year one and $20M in year two. Year one's salary would put Ramirez as the highest paid player in baseball, short of Alex Rodriguez. And at a player's option for year two, Manny could take the $20M or test the market again, it was his choice. This, the Dodgers' press release indicated, led to Boras' rejection, and the Dodgers' sorrow that a reasonable and generous offer was not accepted.

Of course, LA Times resident McCourt publicist (and Ramirez hater) Bill Plaschke took the bait, hook line and sinker, in Friday's column:

Think about this.

For the first year, he would earn $25 million, making him the highest-paid athlete in Los Angeles and the second-highest-paid player in baseball.

If he failed, the following year he still would earn $20 million.

If he succeeded, he could immediately void the contract and sell himself for millions more.

It was a real offer. It was written on a real contract. It was handed over during a time of real national economic distress.

This week, by every stretch of the wildest imagination, the Dodgers made Manny Ramirez a no-lose proposition.

By rejecting it Thursday, Ramirez has officially lost it.

He's lost his dignity. He's lost his perspective. He's lost his marbles.

Plaschke went on to say how Ramirez and Boras have lost another bunch of things, all strung together in short punchy sentences with similar sentence construction. Sort of like this. Sort of like that. Sort of like the kind of thing you'd expect from a middle-school newspaper writer.

But enough about Plaschke. The point is, Old Bill, just like the rest of us, didn't know the true story. By midday Friday, it became clear that the Dodgers' offer had enough deferred payments and options, that it was nowhere near the two-year $45M deal they had said they proposed. Boras wisely leaked the truth about the Dodgers' offer, and suddenly, McCourt's victim card backfired in his own face:

Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti confirmed Thursday the club's offer to Ramirez was for $25 million this season, and another $20 million in 2010 at the player's option for the second year.

What Colletti didn't mention Thursday, the source said, was that most of Ramirez's salary would've been deferred. Two other sources previously told The Times that the proposed deal included deferred payments.

Under the terms of the contract that Ramirez was offered by the Dodgers on Wednesday, he would receive $10 million this year. And by exercising the option for the second year, he would receive $10 million in 2010. Colletti confirmed today that deferred payments were involved.

"The deferred component was part of the deal from the very beginning," Colletti said, though he would not discuss specifics of the deferred payments.

Ramirez, who turns 37 in May, would've been paid the remaining $25 million over the next three years without any added interest. He would've received $10 million in 2011, $10 million in 2012 and $5 million in 2013.

So let's recap. This was NOT a $25M first year, but rather, a $10M first year. In fact, it's a $10M one-year deal, with the option to receive the other $35M ONLY IF Ramirez executes the option. And even then, the remaining $35M would trickle in over a four-year period.

Let's pause here, for the mathematically challenged:

• McCourt tells us in a press release that year 1 is worth $25M.
• Boras clarifies that in fact year 1 is worth $10M.
• Ramirez pulls out his HP-12C and realizes that $10M <<<<< $25M. He rejects the "offer."
• Dodger fans smell a rat. And it's McCourt.

Now, getting back to this whole deferred compensation thing, which was "always part of the deal" according to Colletti, except for when the Dodgers neglected to mention it in their press release or Plaschke forgot to reference it in his Thursday column. Deferred compensation is in theory a good thing--you can take some of your salary when you're in a lower tax bracket, right? But at $10M+, I don't think the tax bracket implications matter that much (at least, they didn't for me).

And Manny's no fool--even Manny knows the time value of money. If you're giving me money at a later date, in order to make it "whole" versus receiving money today--you'd better give me interest.

Frank McCourt's deal deferred Ramirez' money, and paid NO interest. So the extra $25M in deferred money (beyond the two-year period) was in fact worth much less than that. And so, it's no surprise that Manny and Scott said no.

McCourt can keep trying to snow the fans into thinking that he, and the Dodgers, are the ones being left out here. But the fact of the matter is that his handling of this Manny Ramirez deal has been horrendously inept. McCourt trying to use inciting press releases to out-spin Boras and Ramirez, armed only with false information and what appears to be a cash-poor quiver of arrows, is a losing battle. No, it's a massacre. It's like a fifth-grade basketball team going up against the NBA West All-Stars. Every shot attempt is not only getting blocked, it's also getting rejected out to the loge level. And McCourt stands there, without the ball, looking like he's way out of his league.

I actually feel bad for Josh Rawitch, VP of Public Relations for the Dodgers. What an uphill battle.

Plaschke, by the way, tries to avert culpability for being played like a fiddle 24 hours prior, saying that McCourt and Boras both need to find a way to get along. Which I suppose are relatively bold words for someone so far in the pocket of McCourt in the first place.

If one ever wondered if Frank and Jamie McCourt were fit to run a large-market major league baseball team, the Manny Ramirez negotiations bumbling should make it abundantly clear. They're in way over their heads. At this stage, I've become so pro-Ramirez, that I find myself rooting for him almost against the Dodgers.

We'll see if that sentiment changes once I see him suited up in orange and black.

Earlier: Did I Say $45 Million? Sorry, I Meant $55 Million (SoSG)

Did I Say $45 Million? Sorry, I Meant $55 Million

If this imbroglio were only about deferred money, writes Tony Jackson:

At the end of Wednesday's meeting at Dodger Stadium, it was made clear to Boras that while there was no firm deadline, club officials expected to hear back from him in response to their two-year, $45 million offer, and that they only wanted to hear one of two possible answers: yes or no. Instead, Boras came back to them with a counter proposal of increasing the offer to two years and $55 million, a deal that would carry an average annual value of $27.5 million -- the exact same AAV carried by the 10-year, $275 million contract of Alex Rodriguez, another Boras client. Given that the Dodgers already believed they were offering $45 million MORE THAN ANY OTHER TEAM HAD OFFERED RAMIREZ, there was no way they were going to increase their offer by another $10 million. So the Dodgers pulled their offer, and there is presently NO OFFER ON THE TABLE. And the perception that the two sides have now agreed on the value of the deal, two years and $45 million, and are now only haggling on the amount of deferred money, is totally false, according to these sources. The negotiations are presently at square one: meaning no offer on the table. Dodgers are still interested in signing the player and still interested in negotiating. But it doesn't look like this is headed for a quick resolution.

Scott Boras: brass balls or just stupid? Is there a chance Dodger fans will boo Manny in a Dodger uniform? Because Boras just might make that happen.

Scott Boras Is a Romantic

From Jon Heyman at SI.com:

"We've been negotiating in good faith the last 10 days," Boras said. "We've made three proposals. They rejected the first two, and last night we made a third proposal."

Scott Boras Is Just Misunderstood

From Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times:

The Dodgers took a swipe at Boras in a strongly worded news release they issued Thursday night to report that the free-agent outfielder had rejected the two-year, $45-million offer the team made Wednesday.

That prompted a curious response from the Boras camp, which released a statement of its own saying that it was waiting for a response from the Dodgers about the two counterproposals it made Thursday, the most recent being for -- guess how much? -- $45 million over two years.

So why would Boras propose the very deal he rejected?

Did Boras turn down the offer and panic upon realizing that Ramirez had no other suitors? Or was the deal he was proposing a different one than the one Ramirez was offered Wednesday?

What isn't known is whether there are any other teams actively pursuing Ramirez.

What is known is that, according to sources with knowledge of the situation who weren't authorized to comment publicly on the matter, parts of Ramirez's salary would have been deferred under the Dodgers' proposal. The Dodgers offered Ramirez a deal that would've paid him $25 million this year and included a $20-million player option for 2010.

Boras wouldn't comment and directed questions to the Dodgers. What he did say was that he never rejected the Dodgers' offer.

"They asked me to respond to them and I gave them a counterproposal within the framework of the structure we had agreed upon," Boras said.

If it weren't for the subprime mortgage crisis, the stumbling waltz between the Dodgers and Scott Boras would be the most inept handling of a multi-million-dollar package in recent history. Is Boras panicky, or just lying? Is Frank McCourt overreacting, or just cheap? The likely answer is: all of the above. These buffoons deserve each other—when the Dodgers and Boras get together, drama follows. That the object of their attention is one of the most polarizing players in the game is just gravy on the cake. Fight on, you inglourious basterds!

UPDATE:

deferred money details (Tony Jackson)

Ned: "Deferred comp was part of the deal from the very beginning," i.e., McCourt is broke (Jackson)

Boras sets noon deadline (Diamond Leung)

...which Ned hasn't acknowledged (Jackson)

Boras tells Dodgers Manny will accept $45M deal without deferrals (Jon Heyman, SI.com)

photo by Alex Gallardo/LA Times

Well That Was Fast

From T.J. Simers at the LA Times:

The Dodgers have offered Manny Ramirez $25 million for one year, and while [Scott] Boras would say later in the evening he has already informed the Dodgers that Ramirez has rejected their offer, he still wanted to chat about the pros and cons of such an arrangement. [...]

Now that Ramirez has rejected the Dodgers' offer, Boras said it's a clear sign there are other teams interested in offering Ramirez more. He will no doubt try to turn the Dodgers' one-year offer into two or three years elsewhere.

Plan B = Adam Dunn? Bobby Abreu? A third offer to Ramirez? Stay tuned.

No, Really, Dodger Fans, We Are Serious About Pursuing Manny

New reports are leaking tonight that the mythical offer the Dodgers proposed to Manny Ramirez could include as many as three years, and as much as $60M:

The Dodgers' initial offer to the slugger contains a club option for a third year that would make the total deal match that figure, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

Citing a source close to the negotiations, the newspaper reported that Ramirez would earn $15 million next season, $22.5 million in 2010 and the same in 2011 if the team exercised its option. The final year can be bought out for $7.5 million.

The offer stands until Thursday when the Dodgers lose exclusive rights to negotiate with the free agent.

A source told the Times, however, that talks could continue and that the Dodgers would consider guaranteeing the third year of the deal.

Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, has already said that the length of the deal is not acceptable, according to the newspaper.

I'm not trying to suggest that three years and $60M isn't a rich deal. That's indeed a whole lot of money. But the point of this remains that it is clearly fewer years and dollars than Manny and his agent Scott Boras expect. And it's not like they weren't clear about what terms they want ("Gas is up and so am I," quipped Ramirez). So to see this as anything but an obviously inadequate proposal is nuts.

The window of "exclusive negotiating" with Ramirez closes on Thursday the 13th. And if, pray tell, there should be another bottom-feeding team, desperate to sign anyone with a potent bat, who would swoop in and pick Manny up, then where do we turn next?

What's plan B, guys?

Guys?

The Problem With That Low-Ball Offer To Manny

We're not stupid.

We Dodger fans know exactly what is going on. Frank McCourt can't afford the price tag for Manny Ramirez, so instead of giving him the long-term deal that Manny and his nefarious agent Scott Boras want (and have made no bones about), McCourt and his henchman Ned Colletti go public with a short-term deal at an astronomical salary. And they tell every newspaper, so it gets publicized everywhere that the Dodgers have made an offer to Manny Ramirez.

True, it's an offer. But it also doesn't deliver upon the one thing that Manny Ramirez wants: a long-term deal. At root, the Dodgers' proposal is disingenuous and to think otherwise is absurd. This is basically set up to fail--it's clear that it will--and then McCourt can claim to the public that the Dodgers did everything it could. Which is not true, of course, because it didn't. But that's how the argument will go.

The few times that McCourt and Colletti have sacked up and spent a lot of money, they've pissed it away on injury-prone disasters (Jason Schmidt, $45M), weak-hitting slaphitters with no power (Juan Pierre, $45M), or both (Andruw Jones, $36M). That's a lot of money for assets which aren't contributing anything but depreciation on the bench. And here is a chance to spend something on what is undeniably a worthwhile asset, and we aren't even stepping up to the plate with a reasonable offer.

What's worse, I'm certain that, following a Ramirez snub, we will go out and spend that $45-55M on more second- and third-tier assets which will quickly become additional liabilities.

I know Colletti is dealing with the devil here, and I know negotations are difficult. I understand that a Ramirez signing has risk, particularly in the out years of the contract, but I also believe we have no other choice in order to give hope to the fans and have a potent team in 2009. If we're "over a barrel," it's unfortunate, but it's just as much due to the Ramirez/Boras show as it is to our willfully foolish spending since McCourt and Colletti started their term.

Three big deals, three busts. And now, one option right in front of us that's the closest thing to a lock than we have ever seen. And we're opting to put forth a pittance that will certainly be disregarded outright, and potentially even impede any further attempts at closing a deal in the first place.

And then, this story comes up, that Ramirez may be headed to the Giants.

Can the San Francisco Giants afford another multi-million dollar mistake provided by agent Scott Boras? Rumor has it the Giants have their eyes on Manny Ramirez and, if the price is right, he may be sporting the orange and black come next season. [...]

It’s no secret that the Giants need a clean-up hitter. Bengie Molina went yard 16 times in 2008. That is clearly unacceptable. Looking at that statistic makes one agree a move for Manny would be a good one. At the same time, it’s hard to ignore the discrepancy between Ramirez’s 2008 performance with the Boston Red Sox and his performance with the Dodgers.

After Manny left Boston, many Red Sox fans watched him in Dodger blue with scorn in their eyes. The lackadaisical Manny turned into the big factor in L.A. There is no greater insult to fans and an organization. If Ramirez moseys up the coast to San Francisco, AT&T Park will endure a big change.

People will begin to fill the seats more regularly as they once did. Hope will creep into the park just as the fog and seagulls do at every game. The cheers will be louder than the longhaired bespectacled vendor selling peanuts and Dibs.

Sure, it's purely speculative. Probably, it's Boras-planted. Yes, it's odd that the peanut vendors at AT&T Park also sell Dibs (I don't much like ice-cold peanuts, or salty warm Dibs).

But if Ramirez ends up with the Giants, would any protestation that "we made Manny an offer" really hold any water at all? Or would we have to face the fact that, 17 times a season, we'll be painfully aware of what we passed on?

Your Move, Manny Boras

And we're not just talking about Connect Four Round 6. Manny Ramirez, $25M a year, either two or three years in duration. The second-highest salary in baseball. And everyone knows about it now...

From espn:

"We said, 'Think about it for a while. It's not going to be there forever,'" Colletti said. "Things are always subject to change, and it depends on what else we do, to some extent. I've been asked a few times here if we're going to wait to see what happens with this before we do anything else. But I'm not sure we're going to have the luxury to do that. If there's something else that comes about that we feel we need to do, and the timeliness is there to do it, we'll have to do it."

When the Dodgers were eliminated from the playoffs last month, Ramirez expressed a desire to test the market.

"I want to see who is the highest bidder. Gas is up and so am I," he said then.

Gas prices have gone down sharply since then, his agent, Scott Boras, joked Wednesday.

"I believe that was a prognostication that was of a 24-hour period," Boras said. "Manny's stock career was short-lived."

Ramirez is 36, and the length of the contract could become as issue. Boras is said to be seeking a lengthy deal.

And from the LA Times:

Boras has said at the general managers' meetings in Dana Point this week that Ramirez deserved a six-year contract that would pay him until he is 42.

It remains unclear whether this is an earnest bid by the Dodgers to re-sign the player who took them to their first National League Championship Series in two decades, or a half-hearted attempt to appease fans who became enamored with the dreadlocked slugger.

Colletti said he understood that Ramirez probably wouldn't sign before the Dodgers' exclusive negotiating window with him expires Nov. 13.

It is also unclear what kind of market exists for Ramirez. Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said his team could use a power-hitting left fielder but that Ramirez was probably too expensive. San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean said his team almost certainly wouldn't pursue him. New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said that while he liked Ramirez, his top priority is to acquire pitching.

Noting that the Dodgers' attendance and revenue increased and they made the playoffs after they acquired Ramirez on July 31, Boras argued that the player showed he could "pay for himself."

Colletti disputed such a notion, as did San Diego Padres Chief Executive Officer Sandy Alderson, who used to work in the commissioner's office.

"I will say that the one guy recently that has paid for himself has been Manny Ramirez, by virtue of the fact that the Dodgers paid nothing," Alderson said.

The $7 million that remained on Ramirez's deal at the time of the trade was paid for by his former team, the Boston Red Sox. Ramirez's last contract was for eight years and $160 million.

The Pot Calling the Kettle, Well, You Know

Looks like Gary Sheffield is at it again (www.espn.com). This time he is going after Scott Boras, his ex-agent. Seems like Boras is asking for compensation for negotiating Sheffield's 2003 New York Yankees contract, when Sheffield said he had fired Boras before the negotiations and represented himself. Now Sheffield is calling Boras "a bad person." In the press, Boras does seem to be an unscrupulous, money-grubbing, client-losing person, but Sheffield is no saint. Sheffield is the guy who got arrested with uncle Dwight Gooden, pissed off Dodgers management wanting more money, thinks Joe Torre is racist, was named in the Mitchell Report, and thinks Latin players are easy to control saying: "What I called is that you're going to see more black faces, but there ain't no English going to be coming out" (www.msnbc.com). Huh? Yeah, well Gary, that ain't no English coming out of your mouth too.

I Just Changed My Mind About Miguel Cabrera

Keep the kids!

To hear Ken Rosenthal say it, Alex Rodriguez negotiating with the Yankees is huge loss of face for Scott Boras. From "Boras finally tastes a bit of humiliation":

From the furor over A-Rod opting out during Game 4 of the World Series to Boras' inability to establish the benchmark he wanted, it has been anything but the agent's finest hour....

For once Boras appears to have misread the market. For once, A-Rod didn't appear to act as his puppet. For once, the final, jaw-dropping tally will tell only part of the story.

Buster Olney at ESPN.com seems to agree:

Rodriguez is going to get the largest contract ever in sports, when the I's are dotted and the T's crossed. He'll survive. But Boras' reputation as a savvy negotiator will not. He somehow managed to badly overplay the perfect hand.

Yet I have a hard time believing the most savvy agent in baseball—maybe all of professional sports—has lost control of his star client. Some are suggesting that Boras was complicit in A-Rod's plans. From Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports:

Meantime, what has been portrayed as an end-around on agent Scott Boras – Rodriguez contacted the Steinbrenners through a third party, believed to be Mitch Modell of "Gotta go to Mo's" sporting goods fame, and initiated Round 2 of negotiations – might actually have been strategic and not a breaking of ranks.

According to those close to the situation, the Yankees did not attempt to bar Boras from future negotiations and, despite appearances, Boras maintains a civil and professional relationship with his client. Indeed, witnesses said Boras was in Miami meeting with Rodriguez for the past several days and was to dine with Rodriguez on Wednesday night.

So when A-Rod signs with the Yankees—and don't hand him any humanitarian awards yet, as he will still sign the largest contract in baseball history and Boras will still receive his commission—how will it affect the Dodgers?

Of course, A-Rod's disappearance from the free agent market will increase Miguel Cabrera's worth to the Marlins. A while back I favored Cabrera over Rodriguez, mainly due to Cabrera's youth. But if acquiring Cabrera costs the Dodgers too many of those seemingly untouchable names—Kemp, Loney, Billingsley, Kershaw—reportedly requested by Florida, it won't be worth it. I don't want to see this team eviscerated.

So if Ned Colletti keeps his head, we get to keep the kids. Then it seems the youngster in jeopardy of being traded is Andre Ethier, as the hopefully exorbitant asking price for Cabrera will make Ned look toward free agent center fielders (Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter, Aaron Rowand), moving Juan Pierre to left and keeping Kemp in right. (We all know it's Pierre who should be jettisoned, but we also know that ain't gonna happen.)

Jeff Kent will start the season at second base, and I expect Ned and Joe Torre to start Nomar at third. Andy LaRoche will start the season in Las Vegas as James Loney did this year, ostensibly to allow him to play every day. Maybe there will be a free agent pitcher signed as well, but with farts like Luis Gonzalez and Shea Hillenbrand gone and with Uncle Joe steering the craft, maybe we can concentrate on baseball next year instead of clubhouse politics.

UPDATE:

As usual, Jon Weisman puts it better than I do.

illustration by Laura Cornell/Kids Off the Couch

MLBTR: McCourt Could Get Involved in A-Rod Talks

From MLB Trade Rumors:

I recently watched an ESPN video (top right corner) where Keith Law said he didn't see Colletti patching things up to cut a deal with Scott Boras. If the Dodgers are to sign A-Rod it might have to be Dodgers owner Frank McCourt taking care of things.

No matter what your position is on acquiring A-Rod, how troubling is that paragraph? If Ned is still pissed off at Boras over the J.D. Drew fiasco, he should use that chip in future negotiations rather than limit the team's options by refusing to deal with the agent representing such a significant portion of available free agents.

And imagining McCourt dealing directly with Boras conjures thoughts of Tom Hicks and $252 million deals. (Although McCourt somehow slipped a highly-leveraged purchase of the Dodger franchise past MLB; maybe he's got some tricks left).

MLBTR also offers this nugget:

A couple of vets would like to re-join the Dodgers in David Wells and Luis Gonzalez.

Well, a couple of Dodger fans would like to tell Gonzo to go [Rule 1 violation] yourself.

UPDATE:

At least Colletti and Boras are on speaking terms. From Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times:

Colletti spoke briefly with Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras, on the final day of the general managers meetings last week.

"Hi Scott." "Hi Ned."

Free Keep James Loney

From Tony Jackson's blog:

Hey TJ, do you think you could follow up on this?

"The Dodgers remain the wild card in the Teixeira sweepstakes. They proposed first baseman James Loney, outfielder Andre Ethier and Class AAA right-hander John Meloan for Teixeira and right-handed reliever Joaquin Benoit, according to one source.

However, the fragile state of the Dodgers' rotation could force them to focus solely on pitching, and the Rangers are insisting that they include Class A left-hander Clayton Kershaw, a Dallas native, in a Teixeira deal."

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7065740

please tell thats not true. Posted by: npurcell

There is NO WAY the Dodgers proposed that deal. NO WAY. Posted by: tony jackson

I would hope not. Teixeira is a 1.5-year rental (Scott Boras client). Oh, and Loney is doing quite fine at a fraction of the price.

UPDATE:

Bad news for Derek Lowe, according to Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Lowe does not have a strained groin, but, according to a club official, he has "irritation in the left hip," and that's never good for a pitcher. In fact, that was the original diagnosis for pitchers Jason Isringhausen of the Cardinals last year and Justin Duchscherer of the Oakland A's this year, and both ultimately required arthroscopic hip surgery.

Ned, resist the urge to trade the kids for a starter! KEEP JAMES LONEY!

Amen

From "Love Letter to the L.A. Dodgers" by Kate Sullivan at the LA Weekly:

My biggest problem is actually with Dodgers fans. As beautiful as they may look from the parking lot, they are an absolute mess up close. Firstly, stadium staff need to shoot on sight anyone with a beach ball. Fans trying to start a wave should be forced to watch the remainder of the game in their underpants. Fans trying to perform a wave during tense late-innings moments should be lined up and tickled by the bullpen, then banished for the remainder of the season. Fans trying to start a chant that includes the word “suck” should be lightly beaten about the head and shoulders, and reminded that a truly great team doesn’t need to insult anyone else.

Except for that tickling part. Other than that we're cool.

(Thanks to SoSG commenter nelsondyer for the tip.)

UPDATE:

Some commentary on the LA Weekly story about Scott Boras from Lion in Oil.