Very interesting piece. Having dealt with agents in fields other than baseball, I can say that they can often be quite shady themselves. I have little sympathy for them. Most care about nothing but money.
calicub
The agent business is cut-throat and when your sole income is off the talent of others, you have to be as unscrupulous and as pushy as possible in order to be successful (Scott Boras).
Federal League
When I think of unscrupulous agents, Scott Boras is pretty much the last name that pops into my head.
calicub
Not in terms of what is referenced above on either side of the spectrum, certainly. I think players would leave their agents for Boras over reputation rather than anything else and in fact I have a certain respect for him. But, he is unscrupulous when it comes to his interpretation of facts policy and the rules of baseball as well as how he criticizes teams for not bending to his will. Despite his declarations to the contrary, everything he says or comments on in relationship to baseball is self-serving and directed towards getting his own way
Every little edge counts and the nature of this business incentives unscrupulous, shady, underhanded dealings by agents. This is further evidenced in continued and expansive regulation of the International Free Agent Market.
Federal League
Everything Scott Boras does is focused on getting his clients the largest share possible of MLB’s revenue pool.
Perhaps you could provide examples of Scott Boras using “unscrupulous interpretations of facts, policy, the rules of baseball”.
hozie007
Boras’ player contract requires players to pay him his 5% commission for the current deal he is negotiating and their next contract, whether or not he’s their agent and whether or not he negotiates the deal….how’s that for unscrupulous. If you doubt me, ask Gary Scheffield, A-Rod or any of his former clients about it.
Lee Tanner
His representation of plenty of steroid users is a start
jb226 2
I don’t think he’s unscrupulous because I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong.
He puts his clients in the best light. He negotiates for the best salary available. What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the purpose of an agent? If his clients want to go somewhere instead of the place offering top dollar, all they have to do is say so. He can’t sign their names on the contract for them.
DustyKemp
I believe that people like Stephen Drew are victimized by Boras who holds out for more money than they are worth, then the lack of team affiliation in the off-season hurts their value even more the following season.
RonThompson
An agent advises a client. The client is free to instruct the agent. If Drew held out, it was because Drew was unrealistic, not because Boras victimized him. Guys like Drew are a penny a pound. If he thought Boras could get him a contract out of proportion to his worth, then more fool he.
DustyKemp
The Drews are definitely an arrogant bunch, but I believe that Boras falls under the headline of “super” agent. He plays harder and demands more. He can easily manipulate an arrogant guy like Drew into holding out for something bigger. You can’t pin it all on Drew. Boras deserves some of the “credit”.
beisbolista
They used to call that stuff advocacy and marketing, but now I guess they call it unscrupulous, shady, underhanded dealings.
beisbolista
I would argue that the agents are the ones with the real moneymaking talent and the players are making most of their bones off of their agents. Without agents (and also the PA to an extent) these guys would all be playing their whole careers with a single team on a 25 year contract at $50k-100k per year. Are there some unscrupulous agents? Of course. Are there many unscrupulous players? Yeah, you bet.
SFGiantsfan_10
How does the agent prevent the signing of long-term, miniscule AAV contracts? I have a feeling that players like Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw are smart enough to realistically know their value to a team and use that to negotiate their own deals.
Jeffy25
Great piece.
Yamsi12
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
beisbolista
Then why don’t they
SFGiantsfan_10
That’s my point. I’m personally not sure on whether or not the player needs the agent, or it’s more that the agent needs the player.
beisbolista
LOL. Then go get rid of your insurance agent, lawyer, and accountant. After all, you don’t need them, they need you.
SFGiantsfan_10
That’s a different case, although admittedly, you make a valid point that I didn’t think about in that the player agent is there to interpret the legalities within the contract for the player. It’s not as simple as just signing on the dotted line for the player, which was something that didn’t cross my mind.
I was thinking simply in terms of negotiating for a deal, which I felt that the player would know their own worth realistically and sign a contract that reflects that knowledge.
CHSmoot
You don’t pay your insurance agent or accountant 10% of your gross income. You might pay your lawyer that in a criminal case, depending on the charge, but in that case you’re paying him to keep you out of jail, so the character of the services rendered isn’t really comparable.
beisbolista
Agents do 1000x more work AND 1000x more valuable work for a player than an accountant or insurance agent does for a player or any other joe. And your example is completely bogus, as lawyers are forbidden from taking contingency arrangements, or percentages of anything, in criminal cases.
CHSmoot
Nice straw man there! I didn’t say lawyers take contingency arrangements, or percentages of anything, in criminal cases. They do, however, base their fees on the seriousness of the charges, the time involved in mounting a defense, etc. “You might pay your lawyer that in a criminal case” means it might very well turn out that the fee ends up being = or > 10% of your gross annual income. That’s not the same thing as saying “the lawyer would take a contingency arrangement.”
CHSmoot
As to accountants and insurance agents, you’re the one who made that comparison, not me. As to “1000x more work,” I’m not so sure. If it takes a CPA say, 3 hours to prepare a player’s tax return, that means an agent works 3000 hours per year on behalf of one client? There are only 2080 or so (40 hours a week, 52 weeks) business hours in a year… or are you saying an agent works day and night, every day, every night, for most of the year, for each of his clients? It doesn’t seem possible.
robbie555
This sounds just like Pablo Sandoval and his brother being involved in negations with SF. Pablo is not smart enough to get a real agent and can’t figure out his bad feeling are because his brother was involved. His brother gets offended during negations and took it personally and takes his anger to his brother. Pablo takes that resentment his brother has to make the decision to leave SF, leaving more money and fans that loved him, because of his brother. They did help get him out of trouble in Santa Cruz a couple of years ago. Boston sounded so good to him to have 2500 miles between that mess.
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DarthMurph
Very interesting piece. Having dealt with agents in fields other than baseball, I can say that they can often be quite shady themselves. I have little sympathy for them. Most care about nothing but money.
calicub
The agent business is cut-throat and when your sole income is off the talent of others, you have to be as unscrupulous and as pushy as possible in order to be successful (Scott Boras).
Federal League
When I think of unscrupulous agents, Scott Boras is pretty much the last name that pops into my head.
calicub
Not in terms of what is referenced above on either side of the spectrum, certainly. I think players would leave their agents for Boras over reputation rather than anything else and in fact I have a certain respect for him. But, he is unscrupulous when it comes to his interpretation of facts policy and the rules of baseball as well as how he criticizes teams for not bending to his will. Despite his declarations to the contrary, everything he says or comments on in relationship to baseball is self-serving and directed towards getting his own way
Every little edge counts and the nature of this business incentives unscrupulous, shady, underhanded dealings by agents. This is further evidenced in continued and expansive regulation of the International Free Agent Market.
Federal League
Everything Scott Boras does is focused on getting his clients the largest share possible of MLB’s revenue pool.
Perhaps you could provide examples of Scott Boras using “unscrupulous interpretations of facts, policy, the rules of baseball”.
hozie007
Boras’ player contract requires players to pay him his 5% commission for the current deal he is negotiating and their next contract, whether or not he’s their agent and whether or not he negotiates the deal….how’s that for unscrupulous. If you doubt me, ask Gary Scheffield, A-Rod or any of his former clients about it.
Lee Tanner
His representation of plenty of steroid users is a start
jb226 2
I don’t think he’s unscrupulous because I don’t think he’s doing anything wrong.
He puts his clients in the best light. He negotiates for the best salary available. What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the purpose of an agent? If his clients want to go somewhere instead of the place offering top dollar, all they have to do is say so. He can’t sign their names on the contract for them.
DustyKemp
I believe that people like Stephen Drew are victimized by Boras who holds out for more money than they are worth, then the lack of team affiliation in the off-season hurts their value even more the following season.
RonThompson
An agent advises a client. The client is free to instruct the agent. If Drew held out, it was because Drew was unrealistic, not because Boras victimized him. Guys like Drew are a penny a pound. If he thought Boras could get him a contract out of proportion to his worth, then more fool he.
DustyKemp
The Drews are definitely an arrogant bunch, but I believe that Boras falls under the headline of “super” agent. He plays harder and demands more. He can easily manipulate an arrogant guy like Drew into holding out for something bigger. You can’t pin it all on Drew. Boras deserves some of the “credit”.
beisbolista
They used to call that stuff advocacy and marketing, but now I guess they call it unscrupulous, shady, underhanded dealings.
beisbolista
I would argue that the agents are the ones with the real moneymaking talent and the players are making most of their bones off of their agents. Without agents (and also the PA to an extent) these guys would all be playing their whole careers with a single team on a 25 year contract at $50k-100k per year. Are there some unscrupulous agents? Of course. Are there many unscrupulous players? Yeah, you bet.
SFGiantsfan_10
How does the agent prevent the signing of long-term, miniscule AAV contracts? I have a feeling that players like Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw are smart enough to realistically know their value to a team and use that to negotiate their own deals.
Jeffy25
Great piece.
Yamsi12
Live by the sword, die by the sword.
beisbolista
Then why don’t they
SFGiantsfan_10
That’s my point. I’m personally not sure on whether or not the player needs the agent, or it’s more that the agent needs the player.
beisbolista
LOL. Then go get rid of your insurance agent, lawyer, and accountant. After all, you don’t need them, they need you.
SFGiantsfan_10
That’s a different case, although admittedly, you make a valid point that I didn’t think about in that the player agent is there to interpret the legalities within the contract for the player. It’s not as simple as just signing on the dotted line for the player, which was something that didn’t cross my mind.
I was thinking simply in terms of negotiating for a deal, which I felt that the player would know their own worth realistically and sign a contract that reflects that knowledge.
CHSmoot
You don’t pay your insurance agent or accountant 10% of your gross income. You might pay your lawyer that in a criminal case, depending on the charge, but in that case you’re paying him to keep you out of jail, so the character of the services rendered isn’t really comparable.
beisbolista
Agents do 1000x more work AND 1000x more valuable work for a player than an accountant or insurance agent does for a player or any other joe. And your example is completely bogus, as lawyers are forbidden from taking contingency arrangements, or percentages of anything, in criminal cases.
CHSmoot
Nice straw man there! I didn’t say lawyers take contingency arrangements, or percentages of anything, in criminal cases. They do, however, base their fees on the seriousness of the charges, the time involved in mounting a defense, etc. “You might pay your lawyer that in a criminal case” means it might very well turn out that the fee ends up being = or > 10% of your gross annual income. That’s not the same thing as saying “the lawyer would take a contingency arrangement.”
CHSmoot
As to accountants and insurance agents, you’re the one who made that comparison, not me. As to “1000x more work,” I’m not so sure. If it takes a CPA say, 3 hours to prepare a player’s tax return, that means an agent works 3000 hours per year on behalf of one client? There are only 2080 or so (40 hours a week, 52 weeks) business hours in a year… or are you saying an agent works day and night, every day, every night, for most of the year, for each of his clients? It doesn’t seem possible.
robbie555
This sounds just like Pablo Sandoval and his brother being involved in negations with SF. Pablo is not smart enough to get a real agent and can’t figure out his bad feeling are because his brother was involved. His brother gets offended during negations and took it personally and takes his anger to his brother. Pablo takes that resentment his brother has to make the decision to leave SF, leaving more money and fans that loved him, because of his brother. They did help get him out of trouble in Santa Cruz a couple of years ago. Boston sounded so good to him to have 2500 miles between that mess.