The nerve of Scott Bor-ass
For those of you who don’t know, Scott Bor-ass is probably the
most successful agent in baseball. He routinely gets his clients
contracts that are much larger than what most people think the player is
worth. Over the past few years, as the Mets have tightened their purse
strings, Bor-ass has taken a few shots at them. If you are a player
and one of Bor-ass’ clients, you have to love him. If you are a fan,
not so much because one thing is certain, Bor-ass’ clients never give
their current team a ”hometown discount” when the time comes to
negotiate a new contract. Given all the success he’s had over the
years, you’d think that on the rare occasion when things don’t quite work out
for one of his clients, he’d be willing to admit that maybe he
overvalued his client, or at the very least, keep his mouth shut. But I
guess you don’t get to be as successful as Bor-ass is by admitting
when you’re wrong or keeping quiet.
Case in point is Stephen Drew. Now before I get into the specifics of Drew, a little background on baseball free agency. When a player’s contract is up and they can become
a free agent, their current team can usually make a 1-year qualifying
offer to the player, unless the player’s expiring contract prohibits
that, which was the case with Carlos Beltran in 2011. The player can
accept the 1-year offer or decline it. However, if a player declines
the 1-year offer, any team that does sign the player must compensate the
former team with a draft pick (unless it is a Top 10 pick, which are
protected). If a team waits until June to sign that player, they don’t
owe the former team a pick. Okay, enough about free agency and back to
Stephen Drew. Stephen Drew is a decent SS who last year played for the
Red Sox. He became a free agent and turned down the Bosox’s 1-year
offer of…wait for it…wait for it…$14.1 million. Bor-ass figured he
could get Drew a multi-year deal worth more. Several teams were in the
market for a SS this offseason, including the Mets. But as of today,
Drew remains unsigned. Quite simply, Bor-ass overvalued his client’s
worth. Baseball America’s fantasy baseball guide only ranked
Drew as the 24th best SS for the 2014 season. Granted, it was with the
caveat that much of Drew’s fantasy value would depend on what team he
signed with, but still he’s not a Top 10 SS. Bor-ass doesn’t see it
this way. In regards to the current system
that is in place, a system that was voted on and approved by Drew and
his union, the MLBPA, Bor-ass said, “Like any players, they (Drew and
another Bor-ass client who remains unsigned) want to play baseball. But
they’re also looking at the long-term aspects of their careers. This
system has placed them not in free agency, but it’s placed them in
jail.” Yes, he said his 2 unsigned players are in jail. My Jewish
friends might say Bor-ass has a lot of chutzpah to make a comment like
that. The less sophisticated among us might say he has some set of
you-know-what. Remember, Drew is in “jail” because he turned down an
offer for $14.1 million. Let’s put that in perspective. If you are
lucky enough to make $100,000 a year and have a 40-year career doing
whatever you do, you’d make $4 million in your lifetime. Drew had a
guaranteed contract offer (all MLB contracts are guaranteed) of $14.1
million and on the advice of Bor-ass, chose to turn it down. Think
about that. Drew could’ve taken that offer, shown up to Spring training
in the worst shape of his life, had a terrible 3 or 4 months to the
point that Red Sox cut him in July, and he’d still get his money and
NEVER HAVE TO WORK ANOTHER DAY IN HIS LIFE!!!! If that is jail, then
please, somebody arrest me now.
Case in point is Stephen Drew. Now before I get into the specifics of Drew, a little background on baseball free agency. When a player’s contract is up and they can become
a free agent, their current team can usually make a 1-year qualifying
offer to the player, unless the player’s expiring contract prohibits
that, which was the case with Carlos Beltran in 2011. The player can
accept the 1-year offer or decline it. However, if a player declines
the 1-year offer, any team that does sign the player must compensate the
former team with a draft pick (unless it is a Top 10 pick, which are
protected). If a team waits until June to sign that player, they don’t
owe the former team a pick. Okay, enough about free agency and back to
Stephen Drew. Stephen Drew is a decent SS who last year played for the
Red Sox. He became a free agent and turned down the Bosox’s 1-year
offer of…wait for it…wait for it…$14.1 million. Bor-ass figured he
could get Drew a multi-year deal worth more. Several teams were in the
market for a SS this offseason, including the Mets. But as of today,
Drew remains unsigned. Quite simply, Bor-ass overvalued his client’s
worth. Baseball America’s fantasy baseball guide only ranked
Drew as the 24th best SS for the 2014 season. Granted, it was with the
caveat that much of Drew’s fantasy value would depend on what team he
signed with, but still he’s not a Top 10 SS. Bor-ass doesn’t see it
this way. In regards to the current system
that is in place, a system that was voted on and approved by Drew and
his union, the MLBPA, Bor-ass said, “Like any players, they (Drew and
another Bor-ass client who remains unsigned) want to play baseball. But
they’re also looking at the long-term aspects of their careers. This
system has placed them not in free agency, but it’s placed them in
jail.” Yes, he said his 2 unsigned players are in jail. My Jewish
friends might say Bor-ass has a lot of chutzpah to make a comment like
that. The less sophisticated among us might say he has some set of
you-know-what. Remember, Drew is in “jail” because he turned down an
offer for $14.1 million. Let’s put that in perspective. If you are
lucky enough to make $100,000 a year and have a 40-year career doing
whatever you do, you’d make $4 million in your lifetime. Drew had a
guaranteed contract offer (all MLB contracts are guaranteed) of $14.1
million and on the advice of Bor-ass, chose to turn it down. Think
about that. Drew could’ve taken that offer, shown up to Spring training
in the worst shape of his life, had a terrible 3 or 4 months to the
point that Red Sox cut him in July, and he’d still get his money and
NEVER HAVE TO WORK ANOTHER DAY IN HIS LIFE!!!! If that is jail, then
please, somebody arrest me now.
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