Despite Record Offer, Nationals Still Unsure if Stephen Strasburg Will Sign

With just a little less than 48 hours until Monday's midnight deadline to sign picks from June's draft, Washington Nationals' president Stan Kasten told the AP he has "no idea" if top pick Stephen Strasburg will sign with the team. This is despite the Washington Post's report that the Nats have already offered Strasburg a larger signing bonus than any draft pick in history, a report that Kasten more or less confirmed to the AP.

In each of the two seasons that the early deadline has been in place, most of Scott Boras' clients (including Matt Wieters, Pedro Alvarez and Eric Hosmer, all top-six picks in either 2007 or 2008) have gone right up to the midnight deadline before signing. Even if Strasburg has already decided that he wants to accept whatever it is that the Nationals have offered him (likely in the neighborhood of 15-$20 million), the world won't know until Monday.

What is troubling for the Nats' chances, however, is Kasten's statement that Boras is essentially looking to redefine the way draft picks are valued with Strasburg. If that's truly what Boras and Strasburg want, there's probably nothing the Nationals can do to change their minds.

I studied up a lot on the history of Boras's draft negotiations last year as a Pirate fan hoping to see Alvarez signed after the Pirates picked him second overall. The overwhelming impression that I've had of Boras is that these draft power plays he makes are very rarely about only money. In reality, Boras is almost always working to exploit holes in the CBA and the only way that negotiations really take place is if the team he's negotiating with is willing to play by his rules.

Take the Alvarez negotiations last year; Boras dragged the Alvarez signing right down to the last minute and Alvarez may well have actually agreed to a deal with the Pirates after the clock hit midnight. Because of that, the MLBPA filed a grievance saying the contract was illegally signed and the Pirates, not wanting to risk losing Alvarez, re-negotiated the contract.

The terms of the re-negotiation weren't actually all that different than what Alvarez had initially agreed too. The first deal he signed was a minor league contract with a signing bonus right of $6 million. The re-worked deal was a Major League deal worth a total of $6.35 million over four years. The total sum of money was more, but because some of it exists in options and is to be paid down the road, the total cost of this initial contract could end up costing the Pirates less than Alvarez's initial bonus did.

I don't think Boras' goal was to renegotiate for more money; it was to get a team to ignore the deadline and re-negotiate a contract. The Pirates were willing to play ball and in the end, both sides got what they wanted. If the Nationals want to sign Strasburg, they'll have to do the same thing.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-16-2009 @ 12:56AM

plateump2 said...

Boras is a sharp guy no doubt about that. I went to a baseball meeting in Nashville many years ago and he was a key note speaker. He is a very engaging guy and brings a lot of very interesting topics to the table. Most of what he talks about is getting as much money as you can as soon as you can since stats will show most draft picks, even his own clients, Todd Van Poppel with the A's comes to mind, will NOT make it big. By making it big he means play long enough to become arbitration eligible, let alone play long enough to actually become a major league free agent where the huge money lies! Thus he figures he needs to attempt to set his client up on/with his original signing bonus, thus the main reason he holds their signings to the last minute, to squeeze as much cash as possible, since he realizes the odds of them ever becoming major league free agents and really getting the huge contracts are pretty much stacked against them. Strasberg will sign if for no other reason by not signing it puts him another year away from becoming eligible for arbitration and free agency, which is where the big bucks await. If for some reason he doesnt sign, he should get fired for not truely looking out for his clients best interest. For those who wonder why he acts like he does...Borus was a catcher in the Cardinals organization for a awhile. He didnt believe he got a fair shot, so once released, he went to law school and decided he'd take his animosity of not getting a fair shot at becoming a MLB player out on Major League Baseball thru finanacial means. As it has turned out, he's made millions more for himself as an agent than he'd have ever made as a player. After hearing him speak and knowing what I do about the inner working of most front offices, would I have my son or a friends son use Scott Borus as an adviser...I dont know, for every draft pick he helps, another thru his wheelings and dealings he actually hinders.

8-16-2009 @ 12:03PM

Bruce katz said...

The Hell with Strasburg and Boras. If he doesn't want to sign with Washington then he should be forced to wait 5 yrs. before he can sign a professional contract. How is Washington supposed to get better if no one will play for them. It's a disservice to their fans.

8-16-2009 @ 12:40PM

Mark said...

If he doesnt sign with the Nationals , I hope he fails miserably. These young punks that have no character and try to get crazy money without even proving themselves are a disservice to the fans that unltimately pay their salaries. Its apparent Washington has offered him more them a fair contract.

8-16-2009 @ 4:21PM

billcarol88 said...

I agree if this unproven player is not willing to sign with the Nationals then he should be required to sit out a minimum of 5 years. There are to many umproven players making way to much to play this childrens game.