Yesterday we learned from Scott Boras that "there's a lot of passengers on the PF Flyer," and Prince Fielder is best described as a combination of Henry Kissinger and Frank Howard (courtesy of Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post). The latest on the PF Flyer…
- The Nationals' ownership recently met with Boras in Washington, D.C. to discuss Fielder, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson. As you might expect, the Lerners will make the final decision on Fielder.
- Many in the industry believe Boras seeks an opt-out clause for Fielder, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Rosenthal's source notes that opt-outs clearly favor players, in that the team assumes the risk of keeping him if he's underperforming and losing him if not. Still, I think there are scenarios where a player can opt out and the team can avoid the worst part of a long-term contract. If Fielder rakes for three years and a team pays him $75MM, quitting while they're ahead at that point can work, even if Fielder has a few more good years in him.
I’ve been saying all along that he would seek an opt out clause ala CC…..
Why not throw in $10 mil in personal services, a Bugatti, and solid gold toilet. Hey Boras, you available next time I’m up for a raise?
Boras services people in the upper echelon of 800 or so of the top talents on the planet in their field. Are you one of those people in your field?
No? Well then everything you just said is irrelevant to your life.
As a die hard Brewers fan… Good riddance Scott Boras. If it were up to me the brewers would never draft, or sign another Boras client. Bottom line, Prince will decline at some point in the next 5 years. How many 5’10” 250 lb players have been productive into their 30’s? For that matter how many players at that weight have remained productive in 30’s? I hope the Nats give him his 10 years, give us their first round pick, and are stuck for the next 10 years with 2 albatross contracts that will cripple them 5-7 years down the road. How will they be able to resign Harper, Stras, or any of their young players when they will have 50 million in 2 players? Good luck Nats, and good riddance Boras.
That’s how the Blue Jays seem to operate. I think since he took over the only Boras client the Jays have signed is Corey Patterson… on a minor league deal. In the draft, for all their efforts to sign “hard-to-sign” players, they’ve drafted not a single Boras client. Can’t be a coincidence.
I agree with you here: Good riddance Scott Boras. If it were up to me the brewers would never draft, or sign another Boras client!
The problem is the Orioles have three of his clients as well
Britton
Arrieta
Wieters
Boras is a “Greedy” Pig… I am tired of him!
Over and over and over again, Boras gets his clients albatross contracts that cripple teams. This isn’t the steroid era anymore, players decline rapidly after 32.
and over and over again gm’s offer those contracts to his clients.
the man is good as his job. the hate for him is just silly..
he doesn’t force gm’s in to signing his clients
he plays a game and he plays it extremely well
I think much of the hatred for him is because he IS good at his job.
the problem is ripping people off is his job
I agree….he plays the game very well….we as borASS haters should be more upset w/ the GM and owners who offer the big contracts….BUT obviously the owners and GM’s don’t feel it’s as big of a deal to sign these huge contract as we fans think….b/c they aren’t looking at it from the stand point of parity in the sport….they are looking at it as a means to a championship…
It’s already been pointed out but BorASS jokes are as unoriginal as chicken and beer jokes and saying teams are going to win the world Series after a minor league signing. I don’t care if you hate him. Find something more clever
Yea Boras is going to go to prince and be like “so the nats offered you 10 years 250, however you are probably only going to last another 5 so lets just do 5 125 and say screw it to your earning potential after that”. Owners/GMS give out the contracts.
I guess it is easier to blame Boras than to think players you like are the “Greedy” pigs. Boras does a job he is paid BY THE PLAYERS HE REPRESENTS to do. He works for THEM, they do NOT work for HIM. If a player hires Boras, its for one reason…to get the best contract (including the most money) possible. Boras may be greedy, but no more greedy than the players that choose to hire him.
Completely agree. Jered Weaver could have easily just played out 2012 and get $120+MM on the open market if he wanted to. Instead he wanted to get an extension done pronto and they got it done. If Boras didn’t want to do that, I don’t think he’d still be Weaver’s agent right now.
It feels like Boras is an agent who is so self-centered and attention hungry that he does makes his big name clients work for him. Boras is only so successful because he has taken a bigger advantage of who he represents, and has a huge ego about being the top agent. He acts like he writes the rules of negotiating. He has way too much leverage, and its not because of the market system, its because he is a sociopath.
i think albert’s contract has him a little twisted…i don’t think he expected that and with prince being the no.1 client well you know how that goes…they are both all in as to get as many years and money as possible…we shall see……
He has taken bigger advantage of who he represents? If getting the most money and most favorable contract possible is taking advantage, someone PLEASE take advantage of me!
you are a bitter Brewers fan. You are mad at Prince, not Boras and you are also mad at Braun who is now tainted.
Oh get off it dude. NOT PED’s! Seriously get your facts straight.
Elevated levels of synthetic testosterone?
Not synthetic testosterone either, testosterone from an outside source, which could include medication. Have you noticed they are no longer reporting it as a PED and they are reporting it as a banned substance? There is a reason for that. Bottom line ESPN butchered this story. If it was still believed to be PED’s they would still be reporting it as PED’s and not a banned substance. However, if they continue to report it as PED’s when it comes up that they aren’t ESPN is on the hook for slander. Just like ESPN saying that MLB is unlikely to lift the suspension. MLB has no say. If the INDEPENDENT arbitration panel exonerates him, MLB has no choice but to lift the ban, that’s in the CBA. Also ESPN also reported no player had ever had a successful appeal. I encourage you to google Brendan Katin.
LOL so at best Ryan Braun is a total and complete idiot for not checking his medication?
synthetic testosterone is testosterone from an outside source. Also I HIGHLY doubt his medication gave him a higher level of testosterone than any other player before. Thats not espn reporting its MLB network. As for your anger with ESPN whatever they get facts wrong, just because they get a few things wrong in a story doesnt mean the entire story is bs.
synthetic test is test from an outside source. Jeeze.
Face it your boy is a user and will be banned. Good Riddance.
If you are correct in your fictional world where test does not equate to more muscle mass and it didnt help his performance and he didnt knowingly take it and its all part of a medication, then Ryan Braun is the dumbest guy in baseball. Anyone who doesnt know what they are taking in their bdoy at such a high level is just incompetent
Yeah, his #’s just scream PED’s. *rolls his eyes* The only stat that he had his best year in was BA, by .002. So he’s been on the juice his entire pro career then, right?
Oh yea sorry I forgot performance enchancing drugs automatically increase production from prior years and from all levels. Silly me I forgot that it was a guarunteed return!
Oh wait its not….fooey.
Have you noticed that everyone caught using steroids says it’s some medication or unknown source? As much as I don’t want it to be, you need to get past your bias and realize that Braun cheated.
Do some research! Let the appeal process play out. Can’t wait for Braun to sue for defamation.
if what he took wasn’t a PED or a known masking agent for PED’s… why does baseball feel the need to punish him?
i think this whole PED thing is way over blown, but rules are rules. He knew them, he broke them, and thinking he should get a pass just because he plays for your team is exactly the kind of mentality that encourages cheating.
For the same reason they punish people for smoking pot. If a test is dirty a player is automatically suspended.(see Brendan Katin)
I also do not think he should get “a free pass”. This whole process is supposed to be kept behind closed doors for this reason exactly. He has already been found guilty in the court of public opinion, and that’s all that matters, right?
and by Major League Baseball. He was caught in August, the story didn’t break publicly until November. This isn’t a witch hunt and it isn’t trial by media.
And honestly, no, this process should NOT be kept behind closed doors. keeping it all ‘behind closed doors’ is what baseball did for 20 years and is exactly why every record and stat from the ‘steroid era’ is automatically considered tainted, with or without evidence.
If MLB is serious about removing all questionable substances from the game, they need a little ‘name and shame’ so players stop convincing themselves there’s no harm in trying.
anyone who’s a fan of Baseball and not just a team or player should want Braun to come clean about what he took, why he took it, and where he got it. Then quietly serve his suspension and come back clean and better than ever. Baseball as a whole would be better for it.
I disagree about it not being kept quiet. It should most definitely be kept quiet until the final verdict is made(not to mention the potential HIPAA laws broken in this case). Yes, almost every case has been guilty, but there will most likely be a case where a guy is innocent, and if it is released early, his name is already tainted. IF(!) Braun has the suspension reversed, he is still tainted by the media and fans. Tarnished no matter what. That isn’t fair for the proven innocent.
And any logical fan, including Brewers fans like myself, should want him to come clean and tell it how it is, regardless of what he did. He wanted to come forward and do a news conference about it, but his camp told him no. Who knows what he would have said, but he wanted to come forward.
see, to me this is the crux of the issue. Steroids can be used as a performance enhancer… but then again they’re also legitimate medical tools for treating the injured. When used properly, what’s wrong with using human growth hormone to treat a serious, possibly career ending injury?
However, general ignorance by media and fans cemented this idea that all chemicals are bad. You can shoot a laser through your eye, swap the ligaments in your limbs, and whatever the hell that frankenstein procedure Shilling used on his ankle to get better…. but if it involves a needle you’re somehow a traitor to the memory of Babe Ruth.
none of these issues will ever be solved until fans get to see the details of the process, learn what, exactly, a PED is… and most importantly stop accepting (or making) excuses for those who cheat the system… Especially the stars.
Barry Bonds never failed a test, unlike Braun, and was only convicted in the court of public opinion. Are you also arguing that he shouldn’t be tied into PEDs?
The reason they will be able to afford these contracts and sign their star players is that their owners are by far the wealthiest in baseball. They know they have to put a solid product on the field in order to fill the seats. That is the way this city works. The Redskins and Capitals sell out if they are winning. It is a fair weather fan base. They are also in one of the largest media markets in the country with their local TV local getting set to double or triple so they should be financially solid.
I myself would like to see a more level playing field and either additional revenue sharing or a salary cap. It would make baseball much more interesting in the vast majority of fans.
Well we did the next best thing and attempted to sign his son with a 30th round pick this past year. Might as well get on his good side and try and get more ‘team friendly contracts’ that way. Lol who am I kidding? I am with you.
His father declined so rapidly and their bodies are identical. I read he is a vegetarian. I can only imagine the junk he eats to maintain that weight. An opt out clause just seems like one more reason to opt out of negotiating with Portly Prince.
He is not and hasn’t been since about 2 months after he started.
any team that signs him should have the right to demand a weight clause. Vegetrian, my eye
He’s publicly stated he IS NOT a vegetarian… Seriously dude, you are not making yourself look real bright right now. Get you facts straight and then come talk to me.
Speaking of weight clauses, what is up with all those chins on Jeter? It is the offseason, but he looks heavy.
I stand corrected. Tubby would still be a bad investment. Get over yourself. One correction would suffice.
I only corrected you once.
Who were you correcting then? If you were correcting Jeter then you were correcting someone who was agreeing with you. I did see the vegetarian story a few years ago when he looked fatter than ever. Never saw a follow up that said he gave it up. We don’t get a lot of Brewers news here in New England.
His father still hit 39 HR and had a .350 OBP as a 32 yo. If they aged the same, it would give Prince another 5 years of production. If that was the case, you could feel comfortable with a 6 or maybe even 7 year contract.
Fielder Seeking Opt-Out Clause?
It Should say Fielder Opts to Eat Out!
Also, he needs an option to Eat-In.
Prince Eats Anywhere and Everywhere!
Options for all Options Boras should call it!
The “Big” Orca strikes again!
I appreciate the effort, but I think this is the worst “joke” I’ve ever heard on MLBTR
The Nats played the fool to Boras last offseason with Werth. Odds are they are the fool again.
This whole “Blame Boras” thing is ridiculous. His job is not to accommodate teams, it’s to make as much money as he can for his clients. He does his job and does well by his top clients.
People, it’s business and Boras is good at what he does.
Absolutely. But it is entertaining how he makes GMs bid against themselves late in the off season.
Which makes it the fault of the various GMs. All those albatross contracts, no one held a gun to the heads of the GMs and ordered them to sign the contracts.
And GMs sometimes make free agents bid against each other.
It’s the nature of negotiations in a free market system.
He may be good for his clients, but he is bad for teams. I could careless about his clients. The team is always bigger than the player. I’m a Brewers fan first, and a fan of the players that play for the team second. It’s almost guaranteed that if you pick a Boras player, you get them till they hit free agency. If you are a small market team a $25mil player can cripple you for years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised if Greinke and Marcum can be resigned for slightly more than that. I’ll take a #1 and #3 starter over a portly 1b any day. I really could careless how many home runs a guy hits, baseball is back to where it should be, back to where pitching can dominate and win you a title.
Teams are bad for teams if they’re succumbing to unreasonable demands of Scott Boras and his clients.
Boras is just doing his job … and doing it well.
I’m also a team first kind of fan, I’m a complete Red Sox loyalist. However I don’t blame the agents for the team’s problems. I blame Theo for signing Lackey (And no I’m not rewriting history I still think Theo was a great GM for the Sox), I blame some of the players for playing at half their skill level for a stretch, I blame Tito a little for not keeping control (Again, not rewriting history, still think he should be enshrined in the Red Sox HOF), etc.
But I don’t blame any of the agents or players looking out for themselves. Every team owner is doing the same thing, looking out for their own bottom line.
Could care less means you care at least a bit.
Also your whole “back to where it should be” thing wouldnt that make prince even more valuable since he is able to put up these numbers in a more pitcher friendly game?
No. 2 frontline starters>than one slugger. Marcum and Greinke 5 war, with a shortstop who was -48(if memory serves me correctly) in runs saved over the last 3 years. Prince Fielder 5.2 war. Add to that a 1b at 450k who is worth even 1 war you get 6 war at the same price you got 5.2 and you are not looking to fill your 1 and 3 spot in your rotation.
If you think you are going to be able to sign greinke and marcum for less AAV than Prince you are kidding yourself.
It won’t be much more. Barring a Cy type season from Geinke, his #’s are not near good enough to be worth 20mil and a soft tossing right hander post tommy john isn’t going to command much more than 10 mil. Again, if some team is foolish enough to pay Marcum more, have at it. Imo Greinke is worth closer to the 13.5 he made last year, than the 17.5 he’ll make this year. I could see Greinke signing a team friendly contract here as the team lets Zach be Zach and the local media leaves him alone. That and the fact he has no Agent also would cancel out the agent fee immediatly adding value to his contract. Also the fans here adore him and again, let Zach be Zach. He never faced loads of criticsism after his BB injury. I’m probably not going out on a limb when I say he will sign with a smaller market team just because it gives him privacy.
Okay so in a world where every player takes less money except prince your scenario works.
Note its entirely possible for greinke to take a team friendly deal like a boras client(weaver) did.
I think Marcum is going to command much more than 10 mil on the open market, and has no reason to give a small market discount to the Brewers.
That said, I do believe Greinke will resign with the Crew, and I do believe it will be similarly structured to Weaver’s. Like you said, local media leaves him alone, fans love him unconditionally.
“He may be good for his clients, but he is bad for teams. I could careless about his clients. The team is always bigger than the player”.
Just end your comment right there because that spells out your thinking. It’s Boras’ job and in the interest of the player to get the best contract possible. How many chances does a player have to get the kind of contract they want? When they have the most leverage. When they are drafted they have SOME leverage but not nearly as much as the team. He put in his 6 years and this will probably be the last time he will have a chance to get the contract he wants. Good for him. He watched his father decline and get kicked to the curb and now he has the power to get what he once. As long as he gave it 100% as a player previously and continues to do so over the length of his next deal then he owes no one anything.
And its up to a Yankee fan to make sure the salaries continue to escalate to a point that only a select few teams can accommodate the best players.
Actually, it’s up to the free market.
How about if teams can’t pay players, they shouldn’t exist anymore. You wanna get radical, I can too.
Free market – I get it – the next time, and it should be soon – that New York goes bankrupt, how about the rest of the country not bail you out. If you can’t pay your obligations you shouldn’t exist anymore.
What? Do you live in an alternate reality or something? When the hell did New York go bankrupt?
“The city was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in 1975 when it
appealed to Washington for a bailout. President Ford balked, prompting
the famous Daily News headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead.” (Ford
never actually uttered those exact words.) In the end, Congress did
pony up some money for New York, and the city formed the Municipal
Assistance Corp. — a quasi-government body that, in effect, allowed New
York to lend money to itself.”
Next time, and it should be fairly soon, the rest of the country should just turn their backs.
1975… I wasn’t even born then. You’re going to hold a grudge against a state over something that happened in 1975? What a joke!
46 of 50 states could file for bankruptcy this year. You hate all of those states too?
Anyway, what the hell does all this have to do with baseball? If you feel that strongly against NY, take it up on a political board.
Your original point was about the Yankees raising the prices on players. If you hate capitalism and the states so much, go move to Communist China.
Wouldn’t need to move to China for that just New York or California. By the way – need support for your claim that 46 of 50 states could file for bankruptcy.
ask google
oh, I see. You must be confusing the BANK of NY with NY lol. See, one is a bank, while the other is a state. If anything NY brings in a lot of capital to the country. Do some research. You sound… uninformed (I’m being polite).
Who had a greater effect on the FA market? The Giants when they signed Zito or the Yanks when they signed the far superior Sabathia? Who had a greater effect on the market? The Rangers when they signed Arod to $250 mil or the Angels when they signed Pujols? Who had a greater effect on the market? The Red Sox when they signed Dice-K or the Rangers when they offered their posting/contract to Darvish?
Dude, the Yanks pay top dollar for top shelf talents. It’s when teams pay ABSURD amounts for sub-par or slightly above average talents that makes the market skewed.
The Yankees have a long history of paying absurd amounts for sub-par or slightly above average talents. Three recent signings being Kei Igawa, Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett.
How about Javier Vazquez, Jose Contreras, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Kenny Lofton, Ivan Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Felix Heredia or Armando Benitez?
No, clearly the logic is a person should work their entire life, dedicating a promised six years to one company regardless of how unhappy, and then stick with that team because John Smith in the suburbs likes seeing him.
So if you don’t like Prince’s potential down the road, what is your issue with Boras? You should be happy he is going to send Prince to a team where it can potentially harm them and not your Brewers.
Unless of course, you are BS’ing and your issue is Prince wants to rightfully be paid for his accomplishments and so you take it out on Boras for getting the money Prince wants….
Honestly, even if the Brewers could afford him, I would throw a fit over giving a protly 1b a 10 year contract, Prince or not. If some other team wants to give us their first round pick and a sandwich pick, by all means do it. We need the minor league depth more than we need an albatross contract.
Yankees should have torn up Cano’s contract 2 years ago. God knows what that snake is going to demand from the Yankees after 2013 for Cano.
And exactly what good would that have done for the Yanks. Boras would’ve LOVED for the Yanks to do that since he won’t make a dime from Cano until he signs his next deal.
I just want him to sign to see his contract to be honest. How much money? Opt out? Years? Boras has been working on this one for awhile.
This must be a fat guy thing, first C.C and now Fielder :)
and jd drew and aj burnett and arod…they’re all borderline obese
Boras just said last week that a short term deal wouldn’t work because a franchise is built around players like Prince. They would change their entire marketing program (which includes some long-term commitments) to make Prince the face of the franchise. Now to see him suggesting that Prince needs an opt-out is very strange.
Boras is a genius at what he does. I just hate the guy for being such a manipulative liar.
It isn’t strange. Even if every word he said was true (and I am not necessarily granting him that), all of that is the team’s problem and leaving them in the lurch might not be very nice but it is an option in the business of baseball. It should alter the TEAM’s thinking, for sure, but it isn’t strange to hear him suggest; it is very much consistent with his goal of getting everything he possibly can for his clients.
As far as the opt-out itself (not a direct reply to you, by the way), I typically agree with the “bad for teams” interpretation. But thinking about it today, it is a negotiating tool like anything else. Fielder wants an opt-out? Okay. What does the team get in return? If a smart GM can turn that into lower-valued post-opt-out years, it might be a good gamble. From their perspective, they assume the risk of the player going bad but do so for a lower cost than sans opt-out; from the player’s, they have the option to leave and make more money but take less of a guarantee if they do decline.
If the GM is essentially paying full price and awarding an opt-out, well, that’s just really poor negotiating or desperation to make a move regardless of whether or not it is sound. In other words, smart negotiation of an opt-out makes the player declining suck for both sides. If the GM assumes the risk of decline and grants an opt-out without making the player assume some of the risk too, he has simply failed at his job.
because he is trying to save face….nobody imho wants to go past 4, maybe 5 tops…he knows it….he is laying the groundwork for a 4 or 5 year deal and saying that prince would want an opt out anyway…..that is my guess
This whole defending Boras and saying “he’s just good at his job” thing makes me sick. Kegs face it. The guy just lies and scams and cheats the system to get contracts for his players.
In this system the advantage 100% goes to the agent. Blaming the gms for making stupid decisions is not fair. Boras can lie and tell them whatever he wants to tell them and they have no choice but to believe it. It’s not like the teams can just call each other up and say “hey I’m giving fielder this much money. Is it true you offered him more than that?”
Imagine if everybody at their job just lied and screwed over their customers how messed up this world would be. But its ok because Boras is just good at his job right?
” they have no choice but to believe it”..really? They have no choice? Let’s see, you just wrote 3 paragraphs about how Boras lies. So you know not to believe him, but the GMs don’t? He negotiates and uses what info he has to, the teams and GMs most certainly DO have a choice. They can choose not to sign a Boras client, they can choose to offer a contract they deem fair and move on if not accepted, or they can believe what Boras says.
Defending Boras “makes you sick” but the players that allow him to do this ON THER BEHALF, don’t? Once again, he works for them. They sign on with him knowing how he operates.BTW…many corporations and CEO’s lie to maximize profit and many customers get screwed over..and the world is indeed messed up.
The GM’s don’t have to believe him nor do they have to match his offer. It’s called negotiation, Boras is apparently good at it and most GMs are not.
Most B-Schools will teach you that screwing over a partner is never the best thing, but ultimately I don’t think Boras screws these teams over. If they pay too much for his client they just cut back elsewhere.
The GMs who engage him and lose are the ones at whom you should direct your anger.
If Scott Boras “lies and scams and cheats the system,” the agent would be open to civil suits. But he does and he isn’t.
In an attempt to drive down the price, a general manager could tell the agent for a desired free agent that the team is inclined to go with a better value with another free agent (named or unnamed) even though the team has little interest in the second free agent. Does that mean the general manager “lies and scams and cheats” the system?
“The guy just lies and scams and cheats the system to get contracts for his players.” That’s why he’s good at his job.
You do realize that the players, and not the teams/GMs, are his customers, right? And yes, the teams/GMs absolutely can call their colleagues at other teams to verify information. Also, what kind of lies do you think he’s telling GMs that they themselves cannot cross-check? You make GMs out to be a bunch of doofuses that Boras is blindfolding and hand-over-hand signing a contract. Elite players command elite contracts and the going rate as of late has been $20-25MM AAV for such players.
Your line of thinking is based on some really, really, really dumb logic.
Which is why a smart business man, including a GM, goes into a negotiation with a number in mind. No CEO is going to walk into a negotiation thinking an acquisition is worth $30MM and have the other guy go “ZOMG! Bill just offered me a billion dollars, do you want to beat it?!” and go “SIGN ME THE !@#* UP!” Why should a GM?
You decide what Fielder is worth to your team and you stay near it. If you really, really want the player you can give yourself a little leeway, say 5-10% or so, to play with. Nobody is going to quibble much about walking in thinking 7/$140MM and signing at 7/$150MM unless 7/140 was a bad idea to begin with.
It has a wonderful benefit in that you don’t actually have to believe Boras when he says he got another offer that just blows your out of the water, because it doesn’t matter if he did or not. If it’s a lie, you don’t want to be caught with your pants down believing it. And if it is not, well, to steal a quote from Napoleon, “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
what i’m getting out of this is that Fielder does not want to be in Chicago, DC, Seattle, or Baltimore, but very much wants a job next year that pays him lots of money.
That sums it up in one sentence.
Prince Fielder may be interested in all four destinations, but why would the slugger sign today if Scott Boras can keep at least two teams bidding against each other?
Dude, I don’t even care how much he makes for how long and what it involves, just get the guy signed, he’s holding up the rest of the Boras FA’s which is basically the whole FA group left.
So basically Boras wants a team to make a long-term commitment to his client, but doesn’t think his client should make a long-term commitment to the team. Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
that is hilarious hahaha
The whole issue is Milwaukee offered a competitive contract for Fielder. He turned it down, in hopes of obtaining a 10-year 200M dollar contract. Boras misjudged the market and without all the big teams involved, he is now having to become creative to obtain that contract for his client. Yes, sign Prince for 10 years, 25M a year and Prince can opt out after five years. It should be the other way around. Yes, a team will sign Prince for that amount and years, but the team has the option of opting out after five years if his production falls off the table. That takes the power out of the hands of the agent and leaves it with the team where it belongs.
As long as he continues to earn his keep, he makes money. If he doesn’t, he is fired, just like 99.9 percent of real workers in the world. Employers dictate the terms, not the employee they hire. Boras also has the option of putting his client on the market for five years, ensuring a higher AAS, instead of long-term financial security that cripples the salary structure of the team. If Fielder is greedy and wants money for nothing, this was the worst year he could have to obtain it, up against Pujols who was signed with little difficulty. Once you remove the big teams, players should expect to lower their demands dramatically to accommodate the small to medium market teams.
Boras gets clients because he’s been consistently successful at maximizing their compensation. He’s had some notable failures (Damon a couple of years ago, Madson probably this year) but by and large he’s done a terrific job. That doesn’t mean he’s likeable. As to Fielder, this is the point of his maximum leverage and I don’t blame him for trying to get the most out of it. These guys are not comparable to the average worker-they have difficult to replace skills that can be monetized by ownership. Otherwise they wouldn’t get paid this much. Let’s face it-if we were being recruited by a number of employers, how many of us would say “oh, no, that’s way too generous.”
Watch out . The Fish might get in this one.
Fish don’t sign baseball players MVP. Jeez
out of the top 4 likely destinations for fielder, nats are the only one with even a remote chance of getting into the playoffs if they had him. seems like a good reason
i.e. nats, cubs, orioles, mariners
Pretty short sighted view on a player who will be around 5+ seasons.
all i have to do to disprove your comment is list the other teams again. no work needed. it’s the orioles, cubs, and mariners for gods sake
Proving anything in baseball is a fool’s endeavor my friend.
absolutely, but you see a snowballs chance in hell for either of the other 3 teams getting in the playoffs in the next 8 years?
edited
Cecil Fielder career at age 27 – 126 hr over 6 yrs 21 hr per yr
Prince Fielder career at age 27 – 230 hr over 7 yrs 32.8 hr per yr
Cecil Fielder age 28 to 32 163 hr 32.6 hr per yr for 5 yrs and after age 32 sucked
Prince is better than his father was. Even if Prince sucks after age 32, there is 5 yrs of likely high production before he hits 33yrs old.
A 7 yr deal at $25 mil per yr is a relatively safe bet for any team with the budget available compared to other deals in recent history.
If Boras wasn’t his agent, he’d have more teams willing to pay for his services in my opinion.
I wish my team the Brewers could resign him, but the reality is the budget won’t allow it.
I’ve watched him for 7 yrs. He plays the game the way it is supposed to be played, with effort, and passion. Wherever he goes, the fans will not be disappointed in that respect.
How beast would the NL East be if he came!
How beast would the NL East be if he came!
Why do I see this playing out like Mo Vaughn did when he signed with the Mets?