Some news from baseball's western divisions….
- Rangers assistant GM Thad Levine gives ESPNDallas.com's Richard Durrett an update on negotiations between the team and arbitration-eligible Josh Hamilton. "I would characterize our communication as very open and strong….with each call we're making progress," Levine said.
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik tells The Seattle Times' Larry Stone that the team has had "a conversation or two over the course of the winter" with fourth-round draft pick James Paxton, who still remains unsigned. Paxton was selected 37th overall by the Blue Jays in the 2009 draft but didn't reach an agreement, and then couldn't return to college ball due to his association with agent Scott Boras.
- The Rockies may have ended their search for pitching depth, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. Colorado was looking at Rodrigo Lopez and Mark Hendrickson, but those pursuits proved fruitless when the pitchers signed elsewhere (Lopez with the Braves, Hendrickson with the Orioles).
- The potential sale of a minority share of the Mets "could provide a clue" as to what will happen with the Dodgers' ownership situation once the McCourts settle their divorce case, writes Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
I wonder how Paxton would have progressed if he had just signed with the jays.
What happens of he doesn’t sign this year?
If he doesn’t sign by the week before the draft he goes back into the draft.
he could still be picked up as an undrafted free agent later, can’t he?
Yes he can if he doesn’t get drafted again.
Usually when this happens they go to the Independent league to keep sharp.
He’s already pitched in the independent league because he was banned from his college baseball because of his relationship with Scott Boras..
I was bummed when Paxton didn’t sign with the Jays. I think he has amazing stuff and if he signed with them could possibly be in AAA this coming season. I think Boras has ruined this kids career before it has even started.
Hard to feel sorry for the kid, though. He probably chose Boras as an agent to play hardball with his drafting club for a bigger bonus.
Absolutely agree with you. He picked Boras for a reason and I think it is backfiring on him.
big time… he turns down the Jays 1 Million dollar bonus, which was generous considering he shouldn’t have been taken that high. Because of his relationship with Boras he gets banned from his school team, gets taken even later in the next years draft and is still unsigned…
This is why Scott Boras should stick to professional athletes and not amateurs.. He made be good at getting people the most money, but he’s terrible at leading them in the right direction. You can’t play hardball when a kids entire future is on the line.
for people like the wilpons and mccourts who are in huge financial trouble why dont they just sell the teams…they dont have to sell asap but sell to someone and make some money and fix them selves
Probably for the same reason free-agents don’t lowball themselves right when they enter the market. If you ask for little, you receive little. If you ask for a lot, you won’t necessarily get what you wanted, but more than if you asked for little.
It’s complicated if the owners are in dept. If they are going to declare bankruptcy they need the ownership to claim as an asset and if they sell they won’t be able to claim bankruptcy after receiving x amount of millions of dollars .In the McCourts case they are going through a divorce and since they technically own 50% each they can’t sell until they settle their divorce and even after that it matters how the ownership is allocated and it could be a long time after until they are able to reach an agreement to sell.
The McCourts do not own 50% each of the Dodgers. How much either of them owns is still very much in dispute. All we do know is that the prenuptial agreement that would have given Frank full ownership has been invalidated, so now they get to fight over how much is community property. This is why the Dodgers’ ownership situation is going to drag on unless MLB intervenes, possibly for years. The solution is probably to bring in a deep pockets investor to whom the McCourts can sell out in total in a year or two.
What I meant by they both own 50% is that they own 100% I believe and since the prenup has been invalidated that means that they each own 50%
It doesn’t mean that. If Frank bought the team with $450m of his own money, which I believe he did, and the team is valued at $750m today, then the difference ($300m) is community property, which is usually split 50/50 in divorce cases. That would mean Jamie owns 20% of the team. But they also had other property agreements in the now invalid prenuptial, so they have lots of money and issues to squabble about from now until whenever MLB steps in and forces a settlement.
From what I understand is that Frank bought the team while they were married and everything that is bought by one person while a couple is married is that it becomes property of both people (If my wife and I are married and I buy a car, the car is just as much hers as it is mine under the law). He is trying to argue that he bought the team while he was under the assumption that there was a prenup agreement and that it should be all of his. She is arguing that there is no prenup and that half of the team is hers. I do admit though that I am not read up on the California laws but that is how it works from where I live but knowing California it could be different, I just wanted to throw that out.
That’s not how community property works. The money was his before they were married. The money, or what he spends it on, does not automatically become the equal property of both after marriage. As I said, only the increase of value of assets during the time they were married is treated as community property. Of course a divorcing couple can argue in court about what they contributed to the assets, which I’m sure Jamie is going to do, in order to increase her share. But then Frank also has a legal theory for how he still owns the entire team, that he wants to test in court. So the 50/50 thing is just not correct. If that major issue was decided already, the ownership of the team would be much closer to being resolved than it is. It makes me want to weep to say so, but I’m afraid it’s all up to Bud Selig at this point.
on one hand: looks good on him. jays ’09 draft: nevar forget!
on the other hand: the draft either needs to be worldwide, or just done away with. it makes no sense that Chapman can get $30 million because he’s from cuba, and some schmuck from NA has to go into the draft. even strasburg got nothing close to that and is under team control for all those yrs.
I wonder if Thad Levine and Randy Levine are related. That would add another layer of awesome to the Greenberg/Levine fued.
So let me get this straight; Paxton hasn’t played ball for almost two years; he didn’t graduate from college (no degree) since he left during his final year since he couldn’t play ball where he shlubed it until his inde league games where his velocity was garbage and his stuff was gone (he obviously didn’t even try to prepare for inde ball) ; he got drafted even lower and now still wont turn pro ? This guy seems like a three time loser to me. That or Boras just wants him to ruin his life.
he might not really be all that jazzed to play baseball.
Then why play Independent league ball at all? This is just another example of a player falling through the cracks because of the way Boras does business, and yet there are many who consider him the “best agent in baseball”. I sure wouldn’t want him.
I think he’s good if your established and want the most money.. but clearly Boras steered the kid in the wrong direction, he could have had a million bucks in the bank from 09.. Now if anything he’ll get less, 2 years later.
Is it possible that Boras would offer Paxton money if negotiations didn’t go his way? What I mean is could Boras say to Paxton..’hey, I want to play hard ball with your negotiations to get what we want. If we don’t sign, I’ll pay you until we do?”
Would this be possible, or legal?
Something just doesn’t seem right with this whole situation.
The McCourt ownership is a cancer. You cannot cure cancer by introducing 20-25 percent healthy cells; it must be completely eradicated.
I’m sure Rockies fans are devastated at missing out on Lopez and Henderson…
Paxton and Elio will always be public enemy no.1 for me.