OUR FANHOUSE TOOLBAR INTEGRATES THE LATEST SPORTS NEWS INTO YOUR WEB BROWSER AND INSTALLS IN SECONDS.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE TOOLBAR HERE.

MLB

Due to 'Dishonesty' During Mark Teixeira Talks, Red Sox Plan to Boycott Scott Boras

Posted Jan 11, 2009 4:10PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Red Sox, AL East, MLB Biz

Text SizeAAA
Scott Boras is easily the most powerful agent in sports, and he routinely squeezes extra dollars out of teams for the players he represents. Because of this, his clientele is vast. In turn, the respective front offices of all 30 Major League Baseball teams are forced to deal with him. No mas, say the Red Sox brass in the wake of losing out on Mark Teixeira.
The Sox, meanwhile, are, at least for now, done with Boras. One well-placed source said the club will never deal with him again unless it can be guaranteed that talks are being conducted honestly.
My initial reaction was that this is awesome, and I wish more teams would join the fray. The more I think about it, though, we should be on Boras' side.

You heard me.

Look, I hate Boras and his methods as much as the next guy, and I realize -- with the state of the current economy -- how much it angers people to hear about players' gargantuan salaries. What the argument boils down to, however, is who you want to make the money. The money is there. Baseball has a colossal stream of revenue. The players are the ones on the field. They are the product. Would you rather Mark Teixeira get a bigger piece of the money for playing the game, or John Henry keep it all from his cushy sky-box? That's not even a question to me. I will always side with the players over ownership in terms of payroll, because they are the ones actually earning the money.

Scott Boras -- if you can put your hatred aside -- is the best in the business at getting players their maximum share. That means he's a players' guy as well. While I shudder at the fact that I just came to the realization I'm on the same "side" as Boras, it's kind of true.

All that being said, I do wish he went about his business in a more ethical manner. The Red Sox aren't the first to complain about deviant behavior and dishonesty on the part of the uber-agent. There are better ways to get the most money possible for your client than lying to respectable baseball executives.

Tags: john+henry, JohnHenry, mark+teixeira, MarkTeixeira, scott+boras, ScottBoras

Related Articles

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments



Complete World Series Coverage

2009 World Series -- FanHouse Illustration
FanHouse's coverage of the 2009 Fall Classic.

Baseball's Forgotten Crusader

Curt Flood -- FanHouse Illustration
Four decades ago, Curt Flood made enormous sacrifices and changed the national pastime forever.