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1. scareduck Posted: October 21, 2007 at 09:21 PM (#2586549)funny that. Seen the first of those names on BBO commentating on some matches. Didn't think there were many people left who pro-actively enjoyed both games.
I don't understand either. If a GM doesn't want to pay that much for a player, they don't have to. I get the sense that Boras could be frustrating to negotiate with because he doesn't change his demands until he absolutely has to at the last minute, and may be "creative" in how he talks about offers from other teams, but he's their rep. That's what he's paid to do.
In my experience, the people who are best in negotiations are those that truly believe what they're saying, or at least are able to convince themselves they believe it. I'm betting that Boras falls into the latter. There's a certain amount of shamelessness (I mean that in a good way) required to be able to do that, and not all people have it. I personally don't - I'm not the best negotiator.
Boras takes 5% from everything I've ever read. It's not like he doesn't earn it.
He has proven it with his actions in the past ( Harrington, Drew and Drew, Weaver ). So certain GMs might be wary of calling his bluff
Doubtless he does, but it's not up to him - agency fees in all fields are capped by law, state law I believe.
I hope he at least lets you finish reading first.
i think the last time i played in a tourney was at nyu in the mid 90s...
Right, so better to offer unverified criticisms from unspecified detractors.
one of my old handles, godot79.
i think the last time i played in a tourney was at nyu in the mid 90s...
I am impressed you managed to wean yourself away from the game. I waste entirely too much time on it :(
That's a good point, and it's undoubtedly true. But it seems odd to me that no other agent, to my knowledge, is considered in Scott Boras' ilk. He's Super-Agent Scott Boras, and everyone else is just "the rest of them." There are plenty of excellent negotiators. Surely one of them has noticed that there's probably room in baseball for another Super-Agent or two? There's a lot of money to be made...
Have any athlete friends who need representation? Any friend's kids? Or take a low-level job at an agency, build yourself some credibility, and package yourself that way. I think Boras got started by repping a friend of his from his own baseball days.
even though it's officially "all business", I imagine all GMs feel an emotional stake in the teams they create. to that end, we shouldn't be surprised when we see an emotional component when they talk about the people they perceive as obstructing their work.
Another was Boras claimed Jeff Blauser was on a 'hunting trip' and couldn't be reached, in essence not allowing Jeff to listen to the Braves' offer. Blauser ended up signing with the Cubs, and subsequently said he would have taken less to stay with the Braves. Did Boras 'hide' Blauser away from Schuerholz so he could get more money? Or was the hunting story on the up-and-up? There is some debate over this one, but I don't think Schuerholz was happy about the situation.
I'm sure there's been other issues as well. But Schuerholz won't speak to Boras, period.
Here's the Belcher story.
Caudill was the 14th and 18th highest paid player in baseball in '86/'87 according to the Baseball Cube. Boras is good.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/caudibi01.shtml
Especially when the goods you're selling are Jeff Weaver.
I have a friend who tried to become an agent by signing Latin ballplayers and he says it was a combination money pit/nightmare. The players know they have you over a barrell so they extort money from you by asking for loans and then, just when they're about to make the big leagues, nothing can stop them from jumping to another agent, probably one that has clandestinely offered them cash up front. In the long run, the players hurt themselves because a lot of agents are terrified they're going to lose their clients so they try to lock the player up with a team as soon as they can to guarantee the commission. It's a dirty business all around.
Good question. I worked with a guy in IT who chucked it all and went to law school with that very end in mind; he was a pretty good athlete to boot (had a cannon of an arm, but I couldn't put him at SS like he wanted because he never knew where it was going and didn't know when to let up, and I didn't want my 1Bman killed...and my 1Bman was me). I lost track of him, but I do know in the end he most definitely did <u>not</u> end up representing anybody...at least, not yet. Who knows, maybe I'll hear of him one day.
Well told, Mr. Young.
You quoted a scout to the effect that in that draft only Belcher had a major league fastball. One wonders why the scout didn't think that about Roger Clemens, as well. Maybe there's more doofusery in scouting than I suppose.
It was Tanzer who failed to get a deal done the first time Harrington was drafted, but Boras was his rep when he failed to sign with the Padres as a second-round pick the next year. He turned down a $1.2M bonus on Boras's advice. (Link)
Be careful. You might get accused of having never seen a game if you question the superior wisdom and genius of the scouting community.
The exact quote was that Belcher was the only pitcher who "could really throw the ball by a hitter". Clemens then, as throughout most of his career, didn't rely primarily on blowing the ball by hitters; he wasn't a typical high-strikeout pitcher, but a power groundballer.
-- MWE
Bowrrrr? Clemens may not be a "typical high-strikeout pitcher," but a high-strikeout pitcher is exactly what he was from Day One of his major league career through 2006 (not so much in '07). There's no flippin' way at that stage of his development that Clemens couldn't throw the ball by hitters, and he made a living doing just that (and more, of course). That scout was either ill-informed (which is bad) or blind to Clemens (which is worse).
Clemens didn't have a true "power fastball", in the Johnson/Ryan mold. He did use a four-seamer, but he used the two-seamer with more devastating effect, getting a lot of weak grounders. Both the four-seamer and the two-seamer were in the 94-95 range. His strikeout rates (except for 1988) early in his career were in the high 7s/low 8s per 9 innings - top 5 in the league, but not in the stratosphere of the guys you think of as "blow-em-away" types.
Where Clemens made his living, so to speak, was with (a) pinpoint command and (b) keeping the hitters off-stride by mixing his pitches. When he needed to get an out early in his career, he used the two-seamer; later on, he used the splitter.
-- MWE
I don't believe that is generally the case, certainly not as far as representing professional athletes or even entertainers.
i think what you might be missing here is that there are agents as energetic and creative and shameless as scott boras, they just aren't in sports. from the short time i've been here in L.A. the stuff i've read about agents seems to indicate the movie business is jammed with scott boras clones. maybe the payoff is better in show biz, i dunno. i'd be a terrible agent. i knew i was a bad negotiator when my boss told me what a good negotiator i was during our salary negotiations. riiight.
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