Scott Boras Hates Bloggers

In an interview for Men's Journal Scott Boras lets his opinion on the internet be known:

You haven’t seen angry until you see Scott Boras ambushed by an internet story in which an unnamed source claims that Boras’s would-be $200 million slugger is damaged goods.

Boras sighed and said the internet should have a new name. “It should be the intersuck.”

I don't think he is going to find much sympathy; most people like it when there is some light shined on his shady negotiation tactics.

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Report: Tek Decision Coming Today

It appears there is some sort of soft deadline for Scott Boras and Jason Varitek to respond to the Red Sox offer. Extra Bases is citing a source as saying that Boras will give a response on the offer this afternoon:

A resolution on the matter still is expected by the end of the day....Late last night and this morning, the same source indicated that the sides expected to go into the late morning and early afternoon in hopes of resolving the matter. Boras, who is based on the West Coast, is expected to contact club officials today to accept or decline the offer.

Why does everything that involves Scott Boras have to suck so much?

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Varitek Has 5 Days to Decide

UPDATE: the clock is ticking faster, the deadline is really Friday.

Tick...tick...tick, the captain is on the clock and time is running out. When the month comes to an end we will know if Tek will be behind the dish in '09. More from Extra Bases:

A baseball source confirmed this morning that the Red Sox have presented Varitek with a Jan. 31 deadline to accept or decline their most recent proposal, a one-year offer for a guaranteed $5 million with a dual option for 2010. The proposal affords the Sox a $5 million option on the player for that season; should the team decline to exercise the option, Varitek subsequently can return to the team at a salary of $3 million.

Tek may want to now sign a one year deal so he could make more in '10 on the free agent market if he has a good year. The Sox will likely be open to a 1 year deal but they are not going to up the salary much. Boras has really screwed his client on this one by telling him to forego arbitration; a $5 million mistake.

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Offer to Tek is Low and Comes With a Deadline

The details of the offer made to Jason Varitek from the Boston Red Sox are now coming to the surface. From Rob Bradford at WEEI.com:

"The two-year offer made by the Red Sox to catcher Jason Varitek is for $5 million for the first year, along with a club option for $5 million or a $3 million player option for season No. 2 of the deal. It is believed incentives would be part of the agreement. The Red Sox have set a deadline for Varitek to accept the offer, although it is not known what the date has been set."

$5 million is far below what Varitek would have earned through arbitration, which he rejected, and is most likely why the negotiations have stalled. If you look at it from the Red Sox point of view, they are making an offer based on the age of the player and his performance last season. Tek is asking for money based on what he has contributed to the team in the past. The team is taking the right approach here; Tek had his big payday during his last contract and he is not going to get much more elsewhere. Once he and Boras realize there is no market for him at $8 million/year for 2 years they will accept the offer.

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Boras and Teixeira Face the Media

You know when Scott Boras answers a question you are going to end up more confused than where you started. With that caveat here is what he and Teixeira had to say about the negotiations with the Red Sox:

Were the Red Sox and others strung along?

Scott Boras, agent: "I think whenever you represent a free agent player and he signs somewhere, part of the process is one where everyone is going to say they were strung along. Obviously, in my business, you're either called a shopper or a puffer; one of the two, you're going to be labeled with. You do the things you need to do, in good faith, when dealing with teams.

"As far as Boston goes, I think Boston knows they got good faith proposals and they were given proposals, which means, if accepted, the player would have signed the proposal. If teams reject them, they cannot in any way suggest they were strung along."

Was Teixeira always going to New York or did the Red Sox and others truly have a chance?

Teixeira: "Every team did [have a chance]. I told my agent, 'This is the pecking order,' and I gave him my idea of who was going to be near the top. At the same time, I'm not going to lie to you guys. Contract was important. I wasn't going to take half as much money to play in New York. But when a team like New York steps up and is very competitive with their contract, it was an easy decision for me.

"I wasn't stringing the other teams along. At the same time, nobody had really stepped up to make it, 'Hey, now Mark, let's make a decision.' For a long time there, most of the contracts were basically the same."

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Yankee Owners on the Down Low

Gettin' harsh and nasty with the Yankees and Boras in a couple of R-rated posts, but you'll have to CLICK HERE if you want to read them. You've been warned.

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Mike Lowell- Safe at 3rd!

I'm extremely happy to see that Mike Lowell has a job with the Sox in 2009. While Mark Teixeira's bat and glove may have been a welcome presence in the Sox line up (to some), the heart and soul (aka chemistry) of the team that missed going to the 2008 WS by only one (1) game (with an injury riddled line up, taboot) would have no doubt been disrupted to an unfortunate end. Watch out for the Sox in 2009 with a healthy Papi and Lowell!

I don't care what ANYbody says- chemistry is just as important as talent. Case in point- the Yankees, who have plenty of talent, but have not had any chemistry since..... lemmee see..... um..... somebody please remind me the last time they even went to the WS, never mind WIN one?

Mark Teixeira's prescence in a Yankee clown suit guarantees them nothing, certainly not #27. It's that dark shadow that oozes pinstripe scum and greed, scum and greed (aka Boras) that Teixeira will have to scrub himself clean of since he will be next to the grandstanding greed king himself, A-Rod.

Not that I would ever wish ill upon a ball player, but in 2009, I see Sabathia showing up to ST with an extra 30#, Burnett getting 3 starts before his next trip to the DL, and Teixeira, well, he'll have to invest a ton of his $180m in A-Rod soap.

Last item- with that $180m not spent on Teixiera, sign 'Tek already!

Note about the photo- I googled 'A-Rod Soap' and I got 'soap on a rod'.

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Scott Boras Begs The Angels To Get Back in the Race for Teixeira

Scott Boras wrote a letter to the Orange County Register to let the Angels know they could still be in the race for Mark Teixeira if they wanted to be. He is trying to do some damage control after the Halos felt like they were being used to drive up the price for his client. One Angels beat reporter even called him the Anti-Christ.

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John Henry Calls the Bluff of Boras...

…and Boras just shit his bed. He bluffed one too many times. Players will drop him like the bag of shit that he is. He becomes a nobody, a has been, nothing. Players salaries return to normal, as do ticket prices, and a tall glass of Sam Adams will be only $4.

I was dreaming when I wrote this....

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We Will Know Soon if Boras Was Bluffing

If Scott Boras had better offers for Mark Teixeira, they haven't surfaced yet. All of the leakers from other teams are not reporting that their team is close to getting Tex, they are saying the Red Sox had the best offer and are still in the hunt. Boras' email to the press said that Teixeira was in the process of eliminating teams. Boras and Teixeira have played all of their cards; other teams are not going to up their offers now that the Red Sox are "out," if anything the price could begin to drop. This has to come to a head very soon and somebody is going to have some splanin' to do.

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Did Scott Boras Screw Up?

Is Scott Boras going to lose some money for his client with his tactics? It is possible that the Red Sox had the best offer for Mark Teixeira and Boras went back to them to get more claiming he had higher offers. The Red Sox had a higher offer than the Angels according to the L.A. Times:

The Red Sox were believed to have offered Teixeira an eight-year deal in the $175-million range, and a source who is familiar with negotiations but is not authorized to speak about them on the record said it was "significantly" better than the Angels' offer.

It is also possible that the Orioles upped their deal or that the Nats threw some more crazy money on the table. Either way I am just glad Red Sox brass walked away from the deal, it may help bring some sanity into baseball salaries.

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O's Get Back in the Teixeira Mix

Scott Boras must be loving life right now as 4 Major League teams are involved in a pissing contest over Mark Teixeira. Washington still has the highest bid with the Angels and Red Sox right behind. The Orioles have "survived" the initial give and take and are now in the mix with a 7 year $150 million offer. The Red Sox are discussing the possibility of offering 8 years. Just to stir the pot a little the Yankees are meeting with Boras tonight to discuss Lowe but they will say they were talking about Teixeira. This is looking like it will come to a head before teams depart Vegas tomorrow.

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Who Will Blink First on Teixeira?

The Red Sox seem to be in a pretty good position in the negotiations for Mark Teixeira, they are an East Coast team with money a chance of winning now. The Angels are in the worst position in the negotiations because they NEED Teixeira and Boras knows it. To re-sign him they are going to have to beat the huge salary offer the Nats have already made and convince him to play on the West Coast for a long time. The Angel are so desperate to re-sign Tex that their owner has flown to Vegas to participate in the negotaitions. Theo has to stay out of the way at this point and not further inflate the bidding war. Boras will now go the Angels and see what they are going to offer before asking Theo to top it. How high will the Sox go? 8 years? 9 years? $180 million or higher? The Red Sox don't need Teixeira so he may be one that gets away if the Angels throw a big offer on the table. The New York Times notes that Teixeira may still be holding a grudge against the Red Sox. With Sabathia now gone it is looking more likely that Teixeira will sign somewhere before the end of the week.

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Boras and Cashman Scheme to Try to Make the Sox Pay More

Yesterday there was a meeting between Yankees GM Brian Cashman, super agent Scott Boras and his client Mark Teixiera in Washington. It is no secret that the Yanks want C.C. so why is Cashman talking about Teixiera in this meeting? The answer comes from the N.Y. Times:

"The Yankees’ priority is pitching, and Cashman met with Teixeira at the request of the agent Scott Boras."

The Yankees have no real interest in Mark Teixeira but it would benefit Scott Boras, Mark Teixeira and Cashman if it is perceived they are interested. Teixeira's price would go up and the Red Sox might have to pay more for him making them have less money to sign another high priced free agent like Derek Lowe, a player the Yankees are really interested in signing. Boras is not afraid to use Cashman to help drive up the price of his client. The Evil Empire is alive and well and working with baseball's second least popular person. (Bud Selig still has a tight hold on the #1 spot.)

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Theo is Still Talking to Rangers about Catchers

The Texas Ranger's blog posted this from a conference call with Ranger's GM Jon Daniels:

Daniels said there have been some second and third conversations with clubs about potential deals. Though he did not elaborate, the feeling here is that if those conversations have been about Gerald Laird, it's been the Detroit Tigers on the other end of the call. If it's about a younger catcher, it's been the Boston Red Sox.

If the Red Sox do not come out of the Winter Meetings with a new catcher you can almost guarantee they are close to re-signing Tek. I don't think they are going to balk at the chance of getting a young catcher at the meetings, especially if Boras is still having Tek hold out for "Posada money." The Red Sox have what Texas wants and the Rangers have what the Sox want so when they meet next week a deal should not be hard to work out. Boras has to realize this and will try to get a deal worked out with Boston once he sees there is not a huge market for his client.

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Scott Boras Says Tek Report is Untrue

Jason Varitek's agent Scott Boras say the Red Sox have not begun negotiating with his client and he knows nothing about a one year offer that was reported earlier.

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Scott Boras Is Living in the Past

Jason Varitek's agent Scott Boras has not noticed the downturn in the economy nor has he noticed that Jorge Posada sat out most of the year. He told reporters what he is thinking for his client today:

Agent Scott Boras told reporters that New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada’s four-year, $52.4 million deal, which was agreed to last offseason, will serve as a benchmark for any team looking to land Varitek.

Yes the Dodgers did overpay for Jones and the Sox overpaid for Drew but that does not mean that the current market for players is equal to what it was in the past. I can't see any team giving Tek a year beyond 3 years.

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Boras Talks Tek

Scott Boras talked about Jason Varitek with the Boston Globe today:

"If you think about his physical conditioning, he's got many more years to play in this game," Boras said last night. "When he's out there, this club is decisively different. You're really talking about a guy that is inherently valuable. In this day and time, what is a player like that worth?

"We're in the process of finalizing data intake. We have to look at the marketplace. We have to look at similarly situated All-Star players, who they are in stature to their team. There are many comparisons. We're certainly going to look at how those players [were] received in the free agent market and use that as that watermark."

Notice how Boras highlights "All-Star." That kind of overlooks the fact that Tek was voted in as an All-Star purely on name recognition and not for what he had done this season. I do think that Tek does have some value to this team but I can't see giving him more than a 2 year contract. I believe that there is very little chance of Tek coming back to Boston if he is going to go with Boras' plan for a long term big money deal.

MLB Trade Rumors also points out that there is a mass amount of free agent catchers that can call a good game but can't hit.

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Scott Boras Took Manny For a Ride

In today's Globe Gordon Edes reveals an interesting development in the Manny trade:

"Within an hour after Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein informed Manny Ramírez he had been traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Ramírez's agent, Scott Boras, called the Sox back, according to a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations. If the Sox dropped the option years on his contract - which they had agreed to do if they traded him - Boras said Ramírez would not be a problem the rest of the season. For the Sox, the source said, Ramírez's pledge of good behavior only served as a tacit admission that his disruptive conduct of the last couple of weeks had been calculated, and they had had good cause to suspect more was in the offing if they did not trade him."

Remember the meeting between Boras and Manny in Anaheim? It was the series after that discussion where Manny began to sit out. Boras most likely told Manny that he needed to make the Sox not pick up his option for next season so he could get a long term contract. His plan worked. When Manny talked to the media in Boston he said they were not going to pick up his options but they were not going to trade him because "they knew what they had here." Manny was sure he would finish the season in Boston, so much so that he was sleeping when the trade was announced. The Boras phone call to the Sox shows that Manny had overplayed his hand and did not think the Sox would go all the way with a trade. There is equal blame here for Boras influencing Manny and Manny taking his advice. Either way, both of them put money above the game so they deserve each other.

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Scott Boras On Manny

The Lord of Evil spoke with ESPN about Manny's future with the Sox. Remember that if Boston picks up Manny's option, Boras gets nothing because he was not Manny's agent when the last contract was signed. If Manny gets a new contract from the Sox or another team Boras gets a piece of the pie. What do you think he is advising Manny to do? Watch below:

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