Scott Boras Rumors

Frank Coonelly MLB.com Chat

Pirates president Frank Coonelly chatted with fans at MLB.com today. Highlights: The Pedro Alvarez drama will not prevent the Pirates from drafting a Scott Boras client in the future. Coonelly's history with Boras was not a factor in the negotiations. Coonelly is confident Alvarez will be a Pirate soon, and doesn't think the contract can be voided. He adds, "under no circumstance could Alvarez be granted free agency." The Pirates will not be spending $10MM+ per year on a free agent starting pitcher. Coonelly insists the Pirates were not shopping Ian Snell at the trade deadline. Jayson Stark and Jon...   Continue Reading

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Latest On Pedro Alvarez

Following along with the Pedro Alvarez saga... If you missed Cork's update yesterday, start with that. Scott Boras fired back at Frank Coonelly, calling one of Coonelly's comments "patently absurd." Dejan Kovacevic talked to GM Neal Huntington, who doesn't expect a ruling until late September or early October. Huntington also noted that the Pirates will not renegotiate Alvarez's deal, if that is somehow allowed.   Continue Reading

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Week In Review: 8/24 - 8/30

Sunday afternoon is here again... let's have a look back at some of the moves and rumors since last time: The injury-plagued Red Sox acquired Mark Kotsay to help compensate for their injuries. In exchange, the Braves received minor league outfielder Luis Sumoza. Nice acquisition by the Red Sox; Kotsay has been swinging a solid bat this season. The Twins acquired Eddie Guardado from Texas in exchange for minor league pitcher Mark Hamburger. Guardado has spent the majority of his career with Minnesota and provides a solid arm to the bullpen. To make room for him, they DFA'd Mike Lamb....   Continue Reading

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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Pedro Alvarez

Let's take a look at what is being written about the Pedro Alvarez-Scott Boras-Pirates situation in the Blogosphere... The Pittsburgh Lumber Co. feels this situation is more about Boras versus MLB than Alvarez versus the Pirates. They feel it is too early for Pirates fans to turn against Alvarez and suggest this will all be forgotten next summer. Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke? wonders if this is not about getting more money for Alvarez. They wonder if Boras has a more sinister motive, to set a precedent for allowing negotiations after the August 15 deadline, in essence making...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Indians, Rays, Jays

Time to cobble together today's links. The Dodgers designated Tanyon Sturtze for assignment. The 37 year-old pitched only 2.1 innings for the big club. Dejan Kovacevic does not believe the Pedro Alvarez issue will prevent the Pirates from working with Scott Boras in the future. RotoAuthority assembles a fantasy team entirely of players who went undrafted in March. Dave Cameron wonders if the Indians will make a trade due to their catching surplus. Rays Index wants to make it clear that drafting high is only a small factor in the Rays' success. Drunk Jays Fans caught an amusing exchange between...   Continue Reading

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Drama Over Pedro Alvarez Contract

4:51pm: Jim Callis' analysis is a must-read at Baseball America. There is a legitimate chance Alvarez is treated as if he didn't sign, and will become eligible for the '09 draft. 2:08pm: Jonathan Mayo, Jenifer Langosch, and Kevin Goldstein dig up more details. Turns out Hosmer turned down $5.5MM prior to the deadline, but agreed to $6MM during an MLB-approved extension. The Nats may have had an extension for Aaron Crow as well. THURSDAY, 8:19am: MLB and the Pirates say the grievance is without merit, while Boras says the Bucs violated MLB's rules and need to "come clean." Dejan Kovacevic...   Continue Reading

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Heyman's Latest: Lucchino, Manny, Rangers

I wanted to let the Dunn trade cool off a bit before diving into Jon Heyman's latest. Heyman "people in high places in baseball" who believe Red Sox president/CEO Larry Lucchino might leave after the season, possibly for the Dodgers. He's still butting heads with Theo Epstein apparently. Heyman doesn't buy the idea that Scott Boras orchestrated Manny Ramirez's departure from Boston. He also doesn't buy the idea of Ramirez playing in New York. Nolan Ryan would like Tom Hicks to sell the Rangers to him, but Hicks has shown no willingness to do so. Players such as George Sherrill,...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Bay, Clement, Fuentes, Cabrera

We've got plenty of links today. There is speculation that Andruw Jones could be sent back to the minors. Joel Sherman wonders if MLB should've gotten involved when Manny Ramirez decided to orchestrate his own exit. Kind of reminds me of Gary Sheffield intentionally botching plays to force a trade out of Milwaukee in '92. Gordon Edes stands by his report that Manny pledged to give full effort if the Red Sox dropped his options. That phone call between Scott Boras and Theo Epstein occurred within an hour of his trade to the Dodgers. Jon Heyman takes us inside the...   Continue Reading

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Boras Speaks

Super agent Scott Boras called Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently; here are a few highlights. Boras wouldn't address Pedro Alvarez specifically, but talked at length about how his elite draft picks have become successful investments for teams. Boras referenced Mark Teixeira and the Drew brothers, who received deals in the $7-10MM range. Boras client Xavier Nady might want to stay in Pittsburgh beyond the '09 season, but the team has never broached an extension.   Continue Reading

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Manny To Meet With Boras

Earlier this week, ESPN's Buster Olney reported that he heard a rumor that Manny Ramirez switched agents, from Scott Boras to Legacy Sports Group. Now the Boston Globe reports Manny is set to meet with Boras this weekend. "We'll have a discussion about Manny's future," Boras told the Globe. So it looks like Manny and Boras are still together. Thank goodness. If those two crazy kids can't make it work, what hope is there for the rest of us? Coley Ward writes for Umpbump.com. He can be reached here.   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Lowe, Arroyo, Chacon

Here's today's link roundup. Jacque Jones has elected free agency. Does he have anything left? Derek Lowe, Scott Boras, Ned Colletti, and Joe Torre had some kind of cryptic meeting. Draft nugget: the D'Backs were eyeing Allan Dykstra as their first-round pick until the Padres took him. Jason Rosenberg interviewed agent Matt Sosnick. Bronson Arroyo commented on the recent trade rumors. I think this rumor, in particular. Shawn Chacon, demoted to the pen, is not a happy camper. Koji Uehara is also going to the bullpen. Brandon Webb was affected by his contract negotiations. ESPN's Keith Law joined the Drunk...   Continue Reading

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Strasburg To Be Advised By Boras?

From Buster Olney's blog today: Heard this: Stephen Strasburg, the hard-throwing right-hander at San Diego State who is expected to be among the very top picks in the 2009 draft, has selected Scott Boras to be his advisor. Dave Cameron wrote about Strasburg at FanGraphs on Friday. If the season ended today, the first four picks in '09 would go to the Mariners, Rockies, Nationals, and Royals. None of these clubs seem particularly Boras-phobic, and the Mariners and Royals are on good terms with him. I wouldn't expect Strasburg to drop much for financial reasons, but it's way too early...   Continue Reading

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Locking Up Young Stars: Martin, Kendrick, Kotchman, Pedroia, Uggla

Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times takes a look at the spate of recent long-term deals for young stars. Talking to different players and agents, Shaikin found no consensus on whether such contracts are a good idea. Some folks (including Shaikin and Pat Gillick, apparently) believe it's wise for richer clubs to go year-to-year to avoid getting stuck with a bad contract. I'm sure teams have done comprehensive studies on these types of contracts, but my guess is that flops are few are far between. I can only think of a handful (Angel Berroa, Eric Hinske come to mind). As...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Hosmer, Fossum, Garza

Some random tidbits for today... USA Today has an in-depth look at high school first baseman Eric Hosmer, who will likely be advised by Scott Boras. He's a likely top-ten pick this June unless his asking price causes him to drop. Baseball America looks at another first-round first baseman, Yonder Alonso. Here's a reminder of which teams pick when. The Tigers inked oft-injured pitcher Casey Fossum, who is not likely to help them at the big league level this year. Rays Index wonders whether the Rays might seek compensation from the Twins for Matt Garza's injury.   Continue Reading

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Boras Demands For Alvarez, Hosmer Leaked?

Kiley McDaniel reports rumors of Scott Boras' asking price for '08 draftees Pedro Alvarez and Eric Hosmer. He's hearing a $9.5MM big league deal for Alvarez and a $7MM bonus for Hosmer - steep demands. Hosmer, a high school first baseman, has been compared to Casey Kotchman by Baseball America. He's a top ten pick. Alvarez, one of the top talents in the draft, plays third base for Vanderbilt but may end up at first. He figures to go within the first four picks (Rays, Pirates, Royals, Orioles) for sure. By the way, the Reds have the seventh pick, and...   Continue Reading

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Boras Won't Make First Move For Varitek Extension

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe quotes Scott Boras as saying that the Red Sox would have to come to him about an extension for Jason Varitek. Boras and Varitek are open to a deal, but I guess they don't want to sound desperate and give up their leverage. Tek turns 36 in April; the Red Sox are going to want to minimize their risk. They could roll the dice in hopes of signing him after the season, as they did with Mike Lowell and Curt Schilling. It can be tough to measure the value of a catcher, but Baseball...   Continue Reading

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Stark's Latest: Patterson, Lohse, Lofton, Clemens

Finally, new info regarding some of the remaining free agents. Jayson Stark has the scoop. Seems there's a chance Corey Patterson takes a cheap deal to return to Baltimore. He could be relegated to fourth outfielder duty in that case. Stark says the Marlins have discussed Patterson internally, but aren't sure if they could afford the Boras client. Patterson would be a nice stopgap for Cameron Maybin, who'd be well-served with some time in Triple A. Ken Rosenthal also mentioned the Florida possibility. One of the most surprising free agents at this point is Kyle Lohse. Stark shoots down the...   Continue Reading

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Manny Switches To Boras

This should be interesting. Just in time for his contract year, Manny Ramirez has ditched agents Scott Parker and Greg Genske in favor of Scott Boras. As Jon Heyman notes, this is not necessarily a bad thing for Boston since they're on fine terms with Boras. Manny recently spoke to the press about his $20MM option after the season, but didn't really add new information. There will be a lot of Boston media chatter about Manny's situation this year, and now plenty of Boras Hall of Fame type rhetoric as well. But really, it's a very simple situation. The Red...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Roberts, Garcia, Crede

Today's assortment of links. Gary Sheffield is not fond of Scott Boras. Arte Moreno and the Angels aren't closing the door on K-Rod yet. Turns out Brian Roberts left camp because of a possible kidney stone. From Small Ball To The Long Ball has all kinds of cool data that I haven't seen elsewhere. For example, average initial pitch speed for pitchers. Dustin McGowan's fastball: 96.11mph. Tim Wakefield's: 75.62mph. Seems that Freddy Garcia might wait a few months before signing. Andrew Baggarly says the Giants consider Joe Crede a possible long-term piece even with his impending free agency. So maybe...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Hillenbrand, Tsao, Uehara

Here are some random bits and pieces to hold us over until front offices re-open... Shea Hillenbrand has only received one inquiry this winter - from the Giants. He probably won't be earning $6MM again. Hillenbrand posted a .599 OPS in 267 ABs for the Angels and Dodgers this year. I thought perhaps that was one of the worst performances of the decade for guys with 250+ ABs. However it's only the 49th worst since 2000. Homer Bush's 2000 takes the cake - a .524 OPS for the Blue Jays in 297 ABs. The Royals inked Chin-Hui Tsao to a...   Continue Reading

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Will Andruw Take One Year?

According to Scott Boras, his client Andruw Jones will not be taking a one-year deal to rebuild his value. Boras cites Jones' home run total, RBI total, and Gold Gloves as evidence that he deserves a marquee contract. That might work if it were 1990 and OBP, SLG, and better fielding metrics weren't standard. Is Boras losing his touch? Boras said the same thing a couple of months ago: "I wouldn't even consider a one-year contract with Andruw Jones." This was a few days after Andruw admitted he'd listen to any offer. Crasnick's article (linked in the first post) indicates...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: A-Rod, Boras, Pettitte

Early Monday morning reading material... Interesting article in the New York Daily News regarding Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez. Boras insists that many of his clients have not taken the largest deal offered to them, giving examples. The article also touches upon recent Boras clients connected to performance-enhancing drugs (Rick Ankiel and Scott Schoeneweis). Boras' agency is known for its obsessive attention to detail for all of its clients, and seeing a few of them busted raises some questions. Last winter, we discussed the possibility of Hiroki Kuroda coming over from Japan. Well, he's a free agent again, and Nick...   Continue Reading

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Andruw Likely Gone

Update: Keith Law just predicted Torii Hunter will make 16MM/year in Texas. That gels with what Andruw's seeking. Tim discussed The Andruw Jones Situation recently and whether he'd accept a 1-year deal or a 5-year hometown discount. Now, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution discusses the inevitable departure of Andruw Jones here and here. Despite Andruw coming off career-worst season of hitting .222 with 26 homeruns and 94 RBIs, Scott Boras has said there's "no way" he'll accept a 1-year deal. Instead, he's seeking a contract at the "fair-market value" of $17-20 million per year. That's Vernon Wells-esque. And why not? Wells has..   Continue Reading

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Andruw Jones and the Nationals

When we last considered the idea of the Nats signing Andruw Jones, it was April and he seemed in line for a six or seven year contract. The idea of bringing in Andruw was to create some goodwill with the fans through some rebuilding years, a la the Gil Meche signing in Kansas City. The consensus of the commenters at MLBTR was that this was a bad idea. Mark Zuckerman of the Washington Times re-started this conversation yesterday. He notes that center field is still the Nats' most obvious need. Sorry, Nook. Of course there's the Stan Kasten connection and..   Continue Reading

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Teixeira Pines For Orioles

The Mark Teixeira-Orioles love affair continued tonight, as the Rangers welcomed Baltimore to town tonight for a series. Said Tex about the Orioles: "In a year and a half, we'll have some fun conversations. Baltimore, obviously in the future, is a place I'd love to look at." Of course, he also said the typical cliches about being a Ranger and wanting to win in Texas. But you don't often see a player under contract for an additional year and a half so openly talking about playing for another club. Teixeira also spoke of his willingness to chat with top Orioles..   Continue Reading

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Boras And Stark Battle Over Andruw

Interesting debate going on over at David O'Brien's AJC blog (which is a good read by the way). ESPN's Jayson Stark wrote a book, called The Stark Truth: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players In Baseball History . One of the points was that Andruw Jones is overrated currently, because he has lost a step in center field and many folks have not noticed. I think that's the gist of it but still have to read the book. So then Scott Boras called up O'Brien, complaining about how Stark is just profiteering and stir up controversey with the assertion. Boras..   Continue Reading

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Orioles To Make Amends With Boras?

The Orioles have typically shied away from Scott Boras clients, but it stands to reason that yesterday's selection of catcher Matt Wieters will re-open that door. If the O's are able to sign Wieters by the August 15th deadline, perhaps they'll consider Boras clients this winter. Here's a list of Boras free agents for the winter of 2007-08: Eric Gagne Andruw Jones Kyle Lohse Greg Maddux Corey Patterson Kenny Rogers Jeff Weaver Brad Wilkerson Byung-Hyun Kim The Orioles will be one of the clubs in the running for a center fielder, as it doesn't seem likely Corey Patterson will be..   Continue Reading

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Mark Teixeira Trade Speculation

Interesting trade speculation from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in Wednesday's Q&A. If the Rangers - currently 14-20 - slide further out of contention, they could consider trading 27 year-old first baseman Mark Teixeira this summer. According to Grant, the bounty would have to include pitching and a Major League-ready first baseman or outfielder. We know Baltimore covets Teixeira, so Grant's idea of Nick Markakis and a pitcher for Teixeira could make sense on the surface. The first baseman becomes a free agent after the 2008 season, but I don't see the Orioles sitting down with Scott Boras..   Continue Reading

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Orioles Interested In Drew?

Word from the Washington Post is that the Orioles have discussed signing right fielder J.D. Drew. I'm not sure where they'd play him, as Corey Patterson is manning CF and Nick Markakis is in right. Moving one of the three to left field would create a solid outfield defense, though. While Peter Angelos might not be best friends with Drew's agent Scott Boras, the O's did have some Boras clients on the roster this year. Bruce Chen, Patterson, and David Newhan are all represented by the uberagent. The O's have missed out on Boras clients like Vladimir Guerrero, Kevin Millwood,..   Continue Reading

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The Scott Boras Factor

I'm trying to compile a list of GMs who basically refuse to work with Scott Boras, as well as teams with which he has a good relationship. I figured who would know this better than my faithful commenters? Please post a comment and we can compile the definitive list. Here's what I've got so far: Likes Boras: Cubs, Tigers, Red Sox, Dodgers, Royals, Mariners, Angels, Diamondbacks, Yankees Shaky Past But Might Be OK With Boras: Mets, Phillies, Rangers Hates Boras: White Sox, Orioles, Padres, Marlins, Twins, Braves, Astros, Giants Unknown: A's I'll update the post as we sort this out   Continue Reading

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