AJ Burnett, aka, "AJ fade away."
And Pavano =
Posted on 12/20/2009 8:07:11 AM PST by Publius804
Now that the dust has begun to settle on a slim free-agent market with slim pickin's, it appears Johnny Damon and Jason Bay are going to wind up with teams they never would've dreamed of playing for, while Matt Holliday will have to settle for considerably less than the $18 million-$20 million per year his rep Scott (Avenging Agent) Boras asserted to be his worth.
We start with Damon, a terrific guy for whom there will be no sad songs sung here over his self-imposed exile from the team he loved, the Yankees. It wasn't as if the Yankees deceived him. They told him from the get-go that if he wanted to come back it wasn't going to be on a three-year contract or anywhere near the $13 million salary he earned on his last contract. To that, Boras told them: Then don't bother making an offer. So they didn't. And neither, it seems, did anyone else. And so, not surprisingly, Boras grossly misread the market, and by the time the agent came down on his demands to the Yankees (to two years, $20 million), it was too late. They Bombers had already moved ahead and agreed to terms with Nick Johnson to bat second and still weren't prepared to offer Damon any more than $14 million-$15 million total. If Boras hadn't established the parameters of the bidding at the outset, the Yankees conceivably would have started at two years, $14 million and wound up somewhere near Bobby Abreu's two-year, $19 million market deal for corner outfielders with the Angels.
It's anyone's guess where Damon ends up now - Atlanta if the Braves can move Derek Lowe? The Giants?
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
You have to wonder if the owners are changing their stance on the free wheeling demands of agents that create massively growing contracts in the MLB and all sports.
They are seeing how many people are turning against high salaries and contracts in other areas of the financial sector so they may be about to apply that same mentality a little more in their own business.
May of these players are being paid million of dollars for failure.
Here’s hoping the Sox still bring back Bay, despite the Lackey layout.
I’d be happy for Damon to play in Atlanta.
I believe Boras has pretty much burned up as many bridges as an agent could burn up. If I were a player...I’d be looking for a team and an environment that helps me as a player...with money being a secondary goal. In the end, Boras is taking a tremendous amount of whatever you get paid...and doing little to really help you.
BARF! What a shill! He's a 2-20 slump away from getting run out of town by that thuggish organization. They treat classy vets like him like used Kleenex and always have.
If he wants to play on a championship team, he should find a place with the Rays. Their staff is LOADED with young studs and they have an OF job available.
He has had a reputation for negotiating enormous contracts in the past, but it's gotten to the point now where he's probably not doing his clients any favors by chasing prospective bidders away.
The A-Rod fiascos in both Texas and New York (and the aborted contract offer from Boston) offer some interesting insight into how he's has sometimes adversely affected the players he represents.
The Nationals! We’re up and coming and we’re going to steal your cookies!
Boras my be the poster child for enormous contracts but I just cant help speculating as to whether this is not just about Boras but about enormous contracts in general.
You see many people complaining about the salaries and contracts of Wall Street and other industries as well. Now we finally are seeing a news worthy pushback against clients of Boras as well. Coincidence?
I think this may be strategic on the part of owners and that they are trying to use pubic opinion as a backdrop for this.
1. Yankees
2. Mets
3. Red Sox
4. Braves
5. Angels
6. Phillies
These are the teams that can afford to sign those high-priced players, so the market is already constrained by financial realities for the rest of them.
Serves “Great Guy” Damon right for leaving Boston over a half mil a year.
I think that they Cards offered Matt an 8 year $14M per year deal, that has yet to be signed. If I were the Cards, I’d withdraw that deal and send in a new one for 6 years at $10M per year to send the message. Agents are like parasites - they are only in it for what they can get and are pesky bastards. Many players, the smart ones, hire a lawyer just for contract negotiations.
My recollection is that Johnny Damon’s departure was basically a function of Lucchino’s general arrogance and incompetence in the negotiation process as he attempted to low-ball the new contract deal with Damon. The Yankess slipped in and stole one of Boston’s most important (IMHO)players while Lucchino was parading around with his jaw stuck out trying to show how tough and clever he was.
Theo Epstein had quit before the Damon debacle due to Lucchino’s continual interference in the office. After Epstein’s departure, the general management situation got so stupid so fast that it induced John Henry to force Lucchino to swallow his ego (no easy feat considering its size) and hire Epstein back on Epstein’s own terms.
Selig ,Fehr,Boras - the three who helped ruin baseball!
Classic Cashman. I remember when he gave them a 175 yr old pitching rotation, with the youngest being Carl Pavano. When the inevitable happened, I remember Cashman calling a press conference to publicly humiliate and bench Bernie Williams (who came back to have a real good year). I think that's when they started greasing the skids for Torre, also. Classless jerks ...
You just know Burnett is going to give them 200 strong IP next year! /sarc
Smaller contracts, but still tens of millions.
Oh, the humanity.
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