Links from around baseball as Wednesday becomes Thursday..
- Padres closer Huston Street is excited to return to action but is also aware that he might not stay long with the trade deadline less than two months away, writes Dan Hayes of the North County Times. Street is earning $7.5MM this season with a $9MM team option for 2013 that can be bought out for just $500K.
- A number of teams seem to be in on Jorge Soler, but it doesn't appear that the Mets will be one of them. Despite the recent Bernie Madoff settlement, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter) hears that the club still doesn't plan to pursue him.
- Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal spoke with Mark Prior about his latest effort to get back to the big leagues with the Red Sox. Boston signed the right-hander to a minor league deal last month.
- Agent Scott Boras told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he believes the draft has become a "mockery" after the changes to the rules under the new collective bargaining agreement.
- Major League Baseball vice president/baseball development Jimmie Lee Solomon has been fired by commissioner Bud Selig, industry sources confirm to Eric Fisher of the Sporting News. Solomon spent 21 years working with MLB. Josh Leventhal of Baseball America first reported the news on Tuesday.
- Matthew Leach of MLB.com previews the upcoming trade deadline and the teams that are straddling the fence between buying and selling.
The really strange thing is even if Prior actually shows he’s ready for the majors, he’s low on the list for the Sox to call him up. The Sox pen has been doing pretty good, enough so that Melancon is stuck in AAA with a great line.
He’s only thrown 2 2/3 innings so far, so he’ll be a while before he’s ready for Boston, and anything can happen between now and then, but I agree that there are a few guys ahead of him.
I’m sure Scott doesn’t like the new draft system… it’s costing him millions and his little stunts aren’t going to work any more.
“Mockery, n., something that is fair and reasonable to the point where stunts, underhandedness, and greed cannot upset it.”
–excerpt from the Scott Boras dictionary
all agents/player/scouting departments hate the new rules. They are idiotic simply put and lowers the talent level of baseball.
I’m sure the players don’t like it either. Actually, the only people who should like it is the owners, and we all know how awesome it is when they get to keep more of their millions and spend less on their teams.
I’m not a big fan of the new rules either… it’s not going to affect my team that much though so I don’t really complain about them.
Seeing Boras suffer though… I enjoy that.
“Instead of bringing a scout in the room,” Boras says, “we brought a calculator in the room.”
Boras complaining about bringing in a calculator?? Oh the irony there…
The only mockery is what Boras did to his client’s payday – losing him several million dollars
You need to separate the message and the messenger. Boras is basically right in the sense that anything that restricts small and mid market teams from building through the draft is bad, because they can’t compete in the general free agent market. And they need to build in depth-they can’t blow their entire budget, and face penalties, just for one or two signings. The new system doesn’t help them at all-if anything, it may advantage a bigger market team who doesn’t need multiple players. What Bud wanted was to keep overall spending down, and this will accomplish that. But it doesn’t do anything for parity.
Not for nothing, but the Astros just loaded up one of the most talented draft classes in the last 5-6 years.
How many of the players have they signed so far?
youve been manipulated by the master manipulator. the guy will say anything to convince otherwise, but the bottom line is that he wants a cut of that #1 bonus. rizzo probably thinks that boras is his best friend, just like illich.
I’m not missing Boras’ desire to get the biggest buck. He’s not at all altruist. I’m making a broader point that in general, it’s cheaper to build and spend through the draft than it is on the free agent market. That, coupled with higher draft picks, gives low and mid market teams at least a window to bring in comparatively cheaper talent. Should anyone really care if Kansas City or the Pirates want to invest in their draft picks? They certainly can’t bid on Hamels-why should they be restricted on bidding on the best pitchers available in the draft?
Agent Scott Boras told Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he believes the draft has become a “mockery” after the changes to the rules under the new collective bargaining agreement. Talk about the Pot calling the kettle black! Yo, Earth to Boras:
1.) The Economy smells, not everyone can afford to go to the games as they once did. Why should the owner get stuck paying for the bill like in Detroit?
a.) How’s that working out with you and Detroit (25 and 31) I am sure Tiger fans and Mike Ilitch are really happy with that result!
2.) Everyone agreed to the new rules. Union, players, and everyone in between!
3.) There’s still taxes, so even if they get that extra pot on top of the pot of gold they are getting it’s still going to be taxed. Plus, what about that tax they want for the 1%?? Or are you one of these people Boras that hides their money offshore?
4.) You what would be justice here, Boras getting nailed for tax evasion. I would attend that trial if it were to occur. It would serve you right.
5.) A lot of us are tired of you Boras, you are the one who is responsible for turning the draft upside down, you and only you!
6.) I really do think your father is the Emperor from Star Wars, you have so much “Dark Side” running through you. I would say your father was Darth Vader, but at least he turned good in the end. I see no good in you!
such a strange perspective. it’s the owners who make ticket prices prohibitively expensive. to the extent that they have done this in response to having to pay players higher salaries, it has been to preserve their profit margins, not to break even
in other words, the owners have screwed the players hard throughout the history of the game. only recently have the players been receiving a larger percentage of the enormous revenues that are generated in large part because of their talents. when the balance shifted, the costs for fans didn’t need to go up. but they did go up. they went up because the owners — fantastically rich people already, mind you — didn’t want to share. so they had the fans pay for it instead
boras is a pretty ridiculous character, no doubt. i don’t really like him. but the “ruining the game” frustration that is so often directed toward him and the players he represents is misplaced
a kid (who has no guarantee that he’ll ever make a career playing baseball) trying to secure an extra million dollars when he’s drafted? that’s not greed to me
being obscenely wealthy already — wealthy enough to ensure that your children’s children will want for nothing — and fighting for that extra million anyway (and then jacking up prices if the player gets it, just so you don’t end up losing it)? that’s greed
How this hasn’t been liked 1000 times is appauling
Eloquently and so simply stated that even the narrowest mind can understand. I’ve curtailed my attendance to games from about 25 games to 15 a year because of the prices.I don’t blame the players because the owners are the ones that agree to the salaries.
I’ve never gone to a game to watch the owner.it’s the game and the players I pay to see!
I would like permission to copy and paste this into a word document so that it can be stored on my computer. I would like to use it for future reference to help me explain to others.
Amateurs didn’t get to agree to anything. Players, who are part of the union, already have theirs so if they screw over the kids or college players what do they care.
Boras is upset the huge bonus’ are dead but he’s right that this does nothing to insure that the worst teams get the best talents. Several talents were passed on just like normal because they wanted too much money or because in rounds 4-10 teams were taking cheap signs to have money for top guys or kids later on. The system is still completely gamed. It’s just gamed in a different way.
Oh I get it. So it was the Vice President of Baseball Development that was ruining the game, not Selig… So I should assume, now that that guy is gone, playoffs will not be expanded next year and the All Star Game will go back to being an exhibtion?
This is full of intrigue. Because he’s not an owner,player or an agent, it’s flown under the radar. After 21 years in MLB’s offices he gets canned and neither party has anything to say?
When Jimmy Lee was asked why, his response was no comment.
What’s up with that? Hmm…
Mockery is code for “I’m not the center of attention and I’m not making the amount of money I used too”.