Leave it to Scott Boras, the monster truck of agents, to provide not only the parameters and theater for baseball's free-agent industry this winter, but the entertainment as well.
Friday is the first day clubs can negotiate with free agents other than their own, and. ...
"On behalf of Manny Ramirez, we will for the first time, begin accepting serious financial offers on Friday," Boras quipped to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday.
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| 'I think this market will be as aggressive as any,' Scott Boras says. (Getty Images) |
Serious financial offers? Lord, if ballclubs begin spending anywhere close to the dollars that agents and their clients anticipate on the free-agent market this winter, the flow might be strong enough to goose the sputtering economy way more than any federal bailout.
The home foreclosure crisis? Hey, loans for everybody as soon as CC Sabathia banks his first check!
Boras, as usual, seems to have about 90 percent of the A-listers out there in Free Agent Land, including Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Derek Lowe, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Varitek. A flock of B-listers, too (see: Perez, Oliver).
"I think this market will be as aggressive as any," Boras said last week at the general managers' meetings in Dana Point, Calif. "I think teams realize that this is a free-agent market with a lot of depth to it. You have 26-, 27-, 28-year old pitchers. You have players in this market who will pay for themselves, players like Teixeira and Manny. A number of teams can really take advantage of that."
Given the number of tickets sold, T-shirts hawked and a spirited charge into the playoffs for the first time since 1982, Sabathia -- no, not a Boras client -- was close to the "paying for himself" category with the Milwaukee Brewers during the second part of last summer.
Yet when the Brewers produced the heftiest offer in club history to Sabathia several days ago -- reportedly in the five-year, $100-million range, during the window when they had exclusive negotiating rights with him -- it mostly evoked yawns across a baseball landscape viewing Milwaukee's commitment as simply the starter's pistol in negotiations that could push toward $25 million a year times, say, five or six years for the left-hander.
"You look at clubs like the Yankees and I guess we won't know until we know what the other clubs are offering," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said. "Things change. You have to keep in mind where the player wants to go."
True, and Sabathia did become extraordinarily close with Prince Fielder and Mike Cameron, among others, in Milwaukee last summer.
On the other hand, don't underestimate the grip the players' union has on the top free agents. The pressure not to sign for hometown discounts -- and, thus, keep raising the salary bar -- is immense.
"If the money gets to be such a big gap, then they might not land in the perfect spot they want," Melvin said. "But with this, the money is so large ... if you play somewhere for $2 million vs. $4 million, then the money matters. But getting into the money we're talking about, it may make a difference on where a player wants to spend his next five years."
Melvin declined to get into specifics regarding the Brewers' offer to Sabathia other than to say it is the club's "biggest offer ever -- by leaps and bounds and mountains."
While some in the industry think that the Brewers will disappear from the Sabathia sweepstakes just as soon as the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels and others open their checkbooks, Melvin says he can only base his own negotiating position partly on what he read as Sabathia's sincerity in praising Milwaukee during his time there this summer.
"When CC talked about how much fun he had here, we owed it to ourselves and to our fans to make an offer and see if we could sign him," Melvin said. "There aren't going to be that many teams involved with CC. It isn't going to be like 20 teams making calls and offers."
Especially not in these economic conditions. And yes, even the frenetic free-agent market could feel the effect of the downturn. There is palpable concern by many clubs. Arizona already has laid off 31 front-office employees this winter -- and then, according to his agents, Barry Meister and Alan Nero, declined Randy Johnson's offer of taking a 50 percent paycut to stay and pitch for the Diamondbacks in 2009. So Johnson filed for free agency.
In the NL West, Colorado and San Diego both are cutting player payroll. Still, Boras doesn't see the economic crisis impacting baseball.
"Baseball didn't invest in derivatives and sub-prime mortgages," he said. "Baseball has long-term contract with national and local TV networks. ... As I've said all along, the hay is in the barn."
Especially inside his stable of free agents.
Ramirez's leverage only improved when Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno indicated that his club will have interest if it doesn't retain Teixeira.
"He single-handedly took L.A. to the promised land," Moreno gushed Wednesday in an interview with the Angels' flagship radio station, AM-830, at the Angels Baseball Foundation Golf Classic in Newport Beach, Calif. "He did a heck of a job. He hit great, he was a fan favorite, he did a great job with their young players. At the end of the day, you want people who can hit, and he may be one of the top right-handed hitters ever."
Boras has said Ramirez, 36, deserves a six-year contract. He does not view the slugger's age as a detriment in that regard, either.
"We have now established records with a lot of veteran players where we're seeing players perform at very high levels into their early 40s," he said.
The Yankees, Baltimore, Toronto and even Washington have been mentioned as possible landing spots for Ramirez, though the Dodgers clearly have the greatest need. As manager Joe Torre said, without Ramirez last year, they're not a playoff team. And it potentially will be a public relations fiasco if the Dodgers fail to retain him.
The Angels, Yankees, Orioles, Red Sox and Nationals all have been mentioned as potential Teixeira suitors.
Ramirez, Teixeira and Sabathia ... the frenzy begins with those three, and the money flows from there. So let the "serious" bidding begin.
"The interesting thing is a lot of general managers are going to make bad decisions," Boras said. "Some are going to make them and it's going to change the direction of the franchise. Some, I think, because they didn't recognize the opportunity. I think some owners are going to look back and say, 'You had an opportunity to take advantage of the situation and didn't."
Calling all high-rollers, schemers and, yes, even dreamers.
"You never know," Milwaukee's Melvin said. "Did anybody suspect that Matt Holliday would be traded to Oakland? In baseball, you always have to put your hat in the ring. If you sit back and don't do anything. ... Up until the moment we made the trade for CC, there were rumors, and people were saying, 'They'll never get him.'"
Tell us about it. We can still hear the echoes.
