Odds and Ends: Soto, Joba, Colletti, Tazawa

"Another one that got away: Dontrelle Willis."

No.

Mitre might be another one in a year or two...I like his sinker.

wow. The Pirates don't get a break. Last year they just flatout missed on Wieters, now looking like the best prospect of the draft. And, now they didn't make the same mistake by selecting the supposed best prospect this year, but now they have this mess to deal with. And, right now, there's a farily good chance that they don't get Alvarez as well.

MLB has to draw the line on this. If Alvarez is granted Free Agency, it might be the Amateur version of the Dave McNally decision in the 70s that started Free Agency in baseball. This situation has the potential ramifications of doing away with the Draft altogether.

"MLB has to draw the line on this. If Alvarez is granted Free Agency, it might be the Amateur version of the Dave McNally decision in the 70s that started Free Agency in baseball. This situation has the potential ramifications of doing away with the Draft altogether."

Totally agree. I am a Yankees fan but it would not be any fun if the yanks, red sox, dodgers, mets, tigers and other big money teams could get all the young talent through free agency also. The draft is supposed to even out the talent, already signability and slot are issues giving top teams better talent but if every college player had free agency, some who would be great would never get a shot because they would never be in the system as part of the draft and the best teams get all the good players. Alvarez and Boras should be banned from baseball.

all those pitchers got away from chicago? no wonder they can't win a world series.

ned colletti is a joke of a GM, especially when higher-ups sometimes block deals he wants to make. kudos to cali for seeing that ned had nothing to do with the manny trade but acceptance. the guy isn't as bad as dan duquette, but he still sucks.

Pedro Alvarez IS a punk. Unfortunately, I tend to believe anyone hiring Scott bore-in-gms-ass is a punk.

"Pedro Alvarez IS a punk. Unfortunately, I tend to believe anyone hiring Scott bore-in-gms-ass is a punk."

Anyone smart enough to hire the best agent in professional sports is a punk?

Billion to one odds that if you had a chance at being drafted in the first round you'd be 'advised' by the Scott Boras Corporation.

Scott Boras is good for baseball.

Boras doesn't bother me as much as he bothers most people, but I, too, can't wrap my head around an argument that he's "good for baseball."

He might be good for the MLBPA in its yin v. yang battle against the owners and Commissioner's office, but ultimately I don't think wringing every last cent out of owners does the game itself any service, and it ultimately ends up costing fans who want to watch the game more than they can afford.

"Thanks to the players & owners' quest to become as obscenely rich as humanly possible, the entire ALCS will only be available to fans who have cable subscriptions. Someday soon the NLCS--and the World Series--will be like this too"

I don't think cable deals will ever be worth more than network deals. The problem is that baseball just doesn't sell on TV the same way football does, unfortunately.

That said, the vast majority of Americans have cable/sat, so I don't really see how one can argue.