When Scott Boras talks it seems that a lot of people around
Major League Baseball, both the fans and the people directly associated with
the game, tend to listen which has proven to be a great power for the super-agent
over the years. The problem with some people is when they learn that they let
that power and their ego go to their head and it ruins them. Now I’m not saying
this has happened yet with Boras or that it will happen at all but I will say
one thing, his comments on Derek Jeter and the purchase of the Miami Marlins
really kind of rubbed me the wrong way. It made me want to scream, it made me
want to head down to the GM Meetings and tell Boras to simply “STFU!”
Boras was very critical of Jeter and his group of investors
that purchased the Miami Marlins and their decision to slash payroll by
subsequently trading away Giancarlo Stanton. Boras was quoted as saying the
following in a USA Today interview from the GM meetings:
“When you’re looking at building a market and you have an
All-Star outfield with all he dynamics,’’ Boras said, “and you have a club
being purchased at $1.2 billion, what happens is that you got a marketplace
saying the new owners are coming in here and saying they’re making the
franchise better. We’re excited. And then where we are now creating a plan
where we are not going to win five or six years.
“We’re going to basically reduce our payroll. We’re going to
rid our team of our substantial stars. We’re going to set up this five-,
six-year plan. We basically have a system in baseball where we have sales of
franchises, and we have a reduction.
“Basically the idea is to reduce the debt service to pay for
the franchise by reducing all major league payroll, not being competitive,
basically using the argument that we’re going to build a successful team
through development.
“That has nothing to do with the fans. It has nothing to do
with winning. It has nothing to do with anything other than a financial plan
that suits ownership without consideration of the impact it has on Major League
Baseball.’’
So let’s discuss this. Is Boras more worried about the fans
of Miami and the fans of Major League Baseball, or is he more worried about
himself and how a trade of the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich or
whoever else the Marlins decide to trade could affect his clients on the free
agent market this season, and how that could affect his wallet? Call me
pessimistic but I am leaning towards the latter. I am leaning towards Boras
knowing that he has that platform and the power to say and change things around
the league during this time of the year and I think that Boras is taking full
advantage of that. Who could blame him? I don’t, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean I have to agree with his actions either.
