BOB Report: Has Scott Boras met a challenge?
by Brian BorawskiJanuary 09, 2013
Are Scott Boras’ days numbered?
This year, the free agent compensation rules changed. Under the new rules, if a team makes a qualifying offer to a player ($13.3 million for one year) and the player turns it down and signs with another team, the former team gets a compensation draft pick and the team that signed the player loses its draft pick. Bill Madden at the Daily News opines that this could be super-agent Scott Boras’ undoing this year.Let’s get a couple of things straight first. Like him or not, Scott Boras is a bright guy and he’s been doing this for a long time. One of his usual strategies has been to hold off on his players signing early to take advantage of the age-old concept of supply and demand. It’s January and he still has clients like Michael Bourn, Rafael Soriano and Kyle Lohse left to sign. Many think it’s the free agent compensation rules that have caused teams to shy away from these players.
My guess is, Mr. Boras ends up okay. He might not get as much money as he might in years past, but he will find a club that has a need he can fill and use that to get the best possible deal for his client.
Mets’ attempt to bring soccer to Citi Field a stretch
The New York Mets’ have expressed an interest in bring a Major League Soccer team to Citi Field, but at least for now, they have no takers. An MLS spokesperson recently said that an MLS team at Citi Field is a non-starter and that the league is in talks to bring a team to Flushing, N.Y. instead.As usual, the construction of a new stadium brings out the numbers of jobs that supposedly will be created by a new stadium. A few local advocates like the idea of the Mets and a soccer team sharing Citi Field as better for the area, but these things are usually decided on who stands to make the most money and it looks like there’s more money in a new soccer stadium.
Rockies putting technology to use
The Colorado Rockies and Sparta Performance Science recently announced an agreement that will make the Rockies the first professional sports team to install force-plate technology and the software that goes with it as part of their strength and conditioning program. The equipment consists of a thin platform that looks like a doormat. It provides the player with a report on his movement signatures and detects weaknesses.Some individual athletes have used this technology but this is the first time an entire team has put it into place. The Rockies struggled with injuries last year and they’re hoping this new technology helps them slow down the number of players hitting the disabled list.
Dodgers' television deal cloudy
The Los Angeles Dodgers looked set to sign a record-breaking television contract but here we are, a month or two later, and no deal has been announced. It seemed a forgone conclusion that the Dodgers would sign on with Fox, but with the network losing its exclusive negotiating rights last month, Awful Announcing reports that a new player, Time Warner, might have a shot at securing the television rights.One of the biggest issues appears to be ownership in a potential regional sports network so the team can get out of putting up to $100 million of its television receipts into the revenue sharing pool. Guggenheim Partners, owner of the Dodgers, also owns Dick Clark Productions. A deal with Time Warner could help that property as well.
Brian Borawski is a member of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee and writes about the Detroit Tigers at his own website, TigerBlog. He welcomes comments, questions and suggestions via e-mail.
The WBC will probably pull Boras out of the fire, that ‘exhibition’ game has hurt more than a few. Otherwise, it’s not looking good…but maybe a drop in salaries will help the fan.