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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'East Notes: Harvey, Werth, MASN Dispute, Travis, Yanks, Fredi' to a friend
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GRob78
MLB is dealing with a tireless litigator in Peter Angelos. A man who made his bones running down nuance against mega-corporations and ultimately (well maybe not by himself) bankrupted them. While his interest in running a baseball team might have peaked a bit of late…nothing gets him going like winning in court. Good luck to recovering that money.
dorfmac
The simple way of looking at the case (from my understanding) is that the Nats signed an agreement years ago and are now unhappy with what they agreed to, and are pursuing litigation with MLBs backing to undo that agreement and change the terms. The Orioles argue that the agreement should stand for as long as the contract was initially agreed upon. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, but from everything I’ve read from people a lot smarter than I, the Nats are crying poor because they didn’t negotiate effectively enough in the first place.
Jeff Todd
That is a really inaccurate understanding. The agreement provided for resetting of rights fees, the sides obviously disagreed on the amount, and the MLB panel split the difference but generally favored the Nats’ side.
The O’s (via MASN) brought the litigation, arguing that the panel was biased and citing a bunch of reasons. The lower court agreed, but on arguably the most technical grounds (conflict of interest in legal representation).
If that decision stands, which is being decided on appeal, then they’ll go back to some kind of new arbitration (possibly the same panel, depending upon how those arguments shake out). The fees will be re-set in some way, but the methodology, deciding body, and final amount remain uncertain.
jccfromdc
Yeah, this. The lower court found, for example, that MASN’s argument about methodology was without merit. Not only was it not stated in the contract, but the court found that MASN failed to produce ANY evidence that that is what the parties intended.
There’s actually a fairly good chance that the arb panel reaches a new award larger than the previous award. Simply because the original RSDC award was based on a very conservative assessment of the RSN markets that has since been overtaken by events.
dorfmac
Thanks for clarifying – obviously I was way off.
Jeff Todd
All good. This is one of those topics where a lot of bad info gets spread.
Beardedface Killah
How about trade Hanley for pitching because I’m sure Panda is gonna be DH
beauvandertulip
Panda is going to be useless. His batting is regressing and won’t post good enough numbers to stay as a DH. He’s pretty much a useless bat now
MeowMeow
You know, maybe Scott Boras was onto something with Harvey and the innings limit he was pushing for last year after all.
fattharvey
Maybe. Or he could lose like 50 pounds and get back to his 215 advertised weight.
theo2016
And it’s why pirates fans will be disappointed when taillion and Glasnow are shut down in august.
Pedro Cerrano's Voodoo
Boras needs to stay out of baseball decisions/managerial issues. Plain and simple.
johnsilver
Good luck with that. I always thought Marvin Miller was a royal pain for the game. Boras has been worse for the game than Miller ever was. He’s wrecking the monetary structure of the league as bad as union’s did towards corporations 50′ years ago.
Only difference is jobs went overseas with the unions, game will just wither away, or end up with a few ultra rich teams while the rest fold.
BoldyMinnesota
It’s not boras’ fault that teams are willing to pay through the roof for his players. And whys it such a bad thing that he looks out for his players?
rocky7
Because with the current salaries and future salary escalations, you and I won’t be able to afford to buy a ticket and go to the ballpark let alone buy a hotdog or beer. And, with all the cable TV rights teams are contracting for, that will mean that it will now cost you either per game or for a subscription to watch any team play let alone your favorite team.
Is any athlete who performs in a sport for public view worth $30 Million dollars a year?
mike156
But, that’s part of the economics of the game. It’s not the players responsibility to take less so you can pay less for concessions, any more than, say, a pop idol’s responsibilty to reduce his or her fee so you can more easily pay for four tickets to a concert, or Brioni to reduce the price of their suits so you don’t have to buy at Men’s Warehouse. There’s a price/value ratio–everyone charges what the market is willing to pay. If attendance drop, if advertising fees decline because of less interest, then the market will adapt.
johnsilver
Markets adapt by bankruptcies and jobs going over seas. look at Detroit and the auto industry. I’ve seen massive increases in pay over short periods, like sports have had the last 3 decades devastate entire industries.
Steel, Auto. Sports gives a few athletes huge salaries and then requires taxpayers to pony up to build stadiums, that before owners would in many cases build themselves, or help with. Concessions and ticket prices make it so expensive middle class families can barely afford to attend games, if at all and forget the lower classes. It’s become class warfare now.
I’ve defended before what Miller did initially and the entire Flood incident, only it went too far and knew at the time it would end up like this.
My Grandfather worked for a coal company during early 20th century that had company money.. housing.. was in one of those armed skirmishes to unionize in WV. The times have certainly changed for unions. Instead of fighting for basic human rights and dignity, they have lost all bearing.
mike156
The link between high player salaries and owners requiring taxpayers to subsidize them is tenuous, and players are getting a much smaller % of the pie as compared to total revenues than they used to.. Owners are businessmen, and even if the players were all capped, they would still try, and succeed, with the same types of tactics. Free money is always welcome. Franchise values have rocketed–if huge salaries were a stupendous drag, there is no way that a team like the Red Sox or Yankees (who sold to Steinbrenner for less than a year of Brett Gardner) would be worth billions today. If you want downward pressure on salaries, then revenues flowing into the game have to decline–lower attendance, less ad money, teams struggling and near contraction.
rocky7
No Mike156 I still can’t agree, that’s not just the economics of the game…its the economics of greed.
We’re not talking about players responsibility here. The Players Union doesn’t let an athlete take 1 penny less to stay or play where they wish because they argue that it “hurts the game”.
Not sure where you got your price/value ratio because if you ask a fan, they definitely believe that certainly slanted away from their favor.
Look at Legends seats at Yankee stadium….has the market adjusted?
Look at the new proposed Arlington baseball stadium replacing one that was built in 1994? Is that slanted in the fans/taxpayers favor….will the fan/taxpayer market adjust.
This whole thing is just a runaway train that’s headed to lots of empty seats.
Jeff Todd
Eh. Union does it’s job — to collectively bargain, advise players of rights and responsibilities, and push for individuals to support the overall good. There are issues in how it’s set up — most notably, the huge preferance for established veterans, to the detriment of relative newcomers and, especially, pre-MLB players of all kinds.
But it’s not true that players can’t take deals they want b/c the union won’t “let” them. Pressure? Maybe. But there are a ton of examples to the contrary.
mike156
Miller was a brilliant man who helped bring the economic structure of the game into the modern era. Players should be paid according to their abilities to produce. He was a pain because anything that could diminish the owners profits they saw as destabilizing. But the idea of the Reserve Clause, the idea that you would have but two choices–accept what the team you were bound to for life was willing to pay you, or sit out, is not something that is mirrored in the real world. Special talents–in finance, technology, science, law, get paid more than run of the mill “players”. That’s fair. We fans, for some reason, have a tendency to side with the uber-wealthy owners, but if we were the guy with the 100MPH fastball, we would want to be paid what the market would bear.
RyanR
Boras probably just does what his players (clients) wants. He doesn’t always insist on giant contracts or get involved in pitch counts. A doctor I’m sure recommended the pitch count then when the mets were potentially not going to follow it I’m sure Harvey was concerned and Boras got involved. Same with players and more money. I’m sure when a player isn’t being completely greedy he will let them sign for less. He works for the players, not himself. Much like a lawyer. If he was rogue and not acting out his clients wishes they simply can just change agents. No big deal.
jb226
More to the point, he doesn’t “let” his clients do anything. He may advise them to the contrary and if he really feels strongly he could resign and stop representing them. He can’t actually stop them from signing the contract.
The hate for Boras is misplaced because the order is wrong. People think Boras stops players from signing for less, but the reality is that you hire Boras in the first place because you want to go for every dollar. There’s no mystery what Boras is about. In fact, he probably delights in being the bad guy to the public because it lets his clients pursue every dollar without actually taking as much flak for it.
Nobby
Would the Mets consider trading Harvey to the Red Sox if they offered Buchholz along with Jackie Bradkey and a prospect?
jd396
Harvey is kind of reminding me of Lidge… postseason trauma followed by inexplicable poor performance.
tomdaly
Sanchez is batting 0.00 in the majors and you think the Yankees should make him the starting catcher. Also with Beltran being a free agent at years end you think the best way for Judge to get playing time is to trade Gardner. The Yankees are in enough trouble…. Sooooo glad you do not have input in operations.
Jeff Todd
I guess this one is meant for Buster?