As a semi-opinionated person, there are plenty of public figures whom I would be delighted at the sight of them falling flat on their faces. I throroughly enjoy any public character attacks on Tiki Barber or Curt Schilling. I remember reveling in the numerous legal troubles of Michael Irvin and Nate Newton. I couldn’t get enough of strikeout lowlights this year from J.D. Drew and Andruw Jones. I even get a real kick out of every atrocious story that revolves around Isiah Thomas or Stephon Marbury. But, this week may have been the most satisfying example of a brash, cocky, seemingly invulnerable sports figure who got his just due.
Unless you live in a small West African village, you probably know more than you want to know about the saga that resulted in Alex Rodriguez signing the largest contract in the history of professional sports. The funny thing is that the size of the contract, his return to the Big Apple and the direction of the “New Yankees” may not have been the biggest stories that came out of this ordeal. In my opinion, the biggest (and most satisfying) story is that the mega-agent Scott Borass looks like a buffoon and may have lost the ultimate piece to any agent’s career–credibility. It seems as if Borass completely and utterly misread the market, and it may be just the beginning of the end for the worst man in sports.
The dominoes are already beginning to fall for Borass. Just yesterday, another Borass client, Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers, fired the high-priced agent because he was outraged that Borass’s insistence on “testing the waters” had upset the Tigers to point where they almost cut ties with the veteran pitcher. Reportedly, Rogers wants to stay in Detroit, but Borass informed the Tigers that his client would be testing the free agent market. A common ploy of the devious agent that usually results in a higher pay day because the team ends up bidding against itself. The player gets where he wants, just with more money. Apparently, this technique has run its course because the Tigers would have none of it, and Rogers is outraged.
Even before the fiasco of this offseason happened, Borass was getting criticism from some of the most respected sports writers about his affect on the game itself, and some of its best prospects. His influence on the draft was obvious this year, when Rick Porcelo, arguably the best pitcher in the amateur draft and a Borass client, fell to the Tigers at 27 because none of the teams before them wanted to deal with Borass in negotiations. It was a great thing for Detroit, but is it really good for the game that even the draft is skewed towards teams with money? The Pirates and the Royals cannot even draft Borass clients anymore because they cannot afford the signing bonuses that Borass insists upon receiving. This is just one example of how this egomaniacal, money- and power-hungry agent is affecting every aspect of the National Pastime.
However, the players kept coming to Borass in spades for one reason: he always got top-dollar for his clients–oftentimes much more than they were even worth. Now with public opinion believing that A-Rod agreed to his newest contract DESPITE Borass (as opposed to because of him), this one key ingredient to the Borass empire may have fallen because, in this business, perception often becomes reality and it may no longer be perceived that Scott Borass will get you top–dollar. Because of this, more and more players like Kenny Rogers may say “no thanks” to having to put up with the “bigger-than-the-game” circus stunts–like the one during Game 4 of the World Series–that always accompany a Borass offseason.
And, honestly, I couldn’t be happier.
(ps…I am well aware that the last name of A-Rod’s agent only has one “s” at the end)
From your mouth to god’s ears. But does that actually happen? No. Sure, an occasional player who wants to offer a home team discount may go in another direction. But, like it or not, most players just want the most money possible and there is nobody better for getting that than Borass. He horribly misread the Arod market…and Arod got $300 over 10. If Arod was forced to choke down $209 (the original yankee offer was $230 – $21m they lost from TX = $209) then maybe Borass takes a tumble. But most players are going to end up on the “I’ll take a $300 million mistake any day” side of the line..
Listen, nobody likes Borass but isn’t this really the collective ownerships fault for continuously letting him get away with this nonesense? Sure, Borass is the guy who walks into a room with 30 recovering alcoholics carrying a keg. And everybody hates that guy. But at some point, you gotta look those 30 owners in the face, slap them, and say damn it – you’re supposed to be adults and savvy executives to boot and you’ve seen him do the same damn thing 30 times now. Get it together.
And now we all have another reason to hate the Yankees. The Steinbrenner kids, in shocking fashion, demonstrated some huge cajones for about 2 minutes there. They stood up and said If Arod opts out we will NOT negotiate with him. He will NOT be a Yankee. So he opts out and (it appeared from reports) that no other team is willing to put forth an offer within $100 million of the $230 that the yankees offered. Now, if the Steinbrenner kids had stuck to their guns, than the Borass scenario you describe above might have actually happened because Arod might have left $100 million on the table by listening to Borass. But, in equally shocking fashion, they showed less backbone than a platoon full of frenchmen, caved, and signed Arod to the biggest contract ever. A contract that far eclipsed the $250 million he got from the Rangers, a contract that itself was so absurd that Texas had to give the Yankees (the Yankees!) money to take it off their hands after they couldn’t get anyone to take it off irrevocable waivers asking nothing in return. So Borass survives (relatively)unscathed. Stupid Yankees.
I want to write an article about how hopeless and terrible the Knicks are and how stupid James Dolan and Isiah Thomas are. Bry, can you make one of your questions of the day how hopeless and terrible are the Knicks and how stupid are James Dolan and Isaih Thomas?
Well, I think the hope here is that Boras didn’t escape relatively unscathed. I remember the last time a big-time, highly regarded sports agent pulled a stunt like this and had it blow up in his face. When was the last time anyone’s heard Drew Rosenhaus’s name? I mean, I’m sure the guy’s not starving, but the T.O. fiasco was a huge hit for him. It’s all about perception in that business, so here’s hoping Boras at least sees some decline in influence.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3117686
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