From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

There is one name that strikes fear into the heart of baseball fans and it's not Rodriguez or Santana or Sabathia or Ramirez. It's Boras. Signing or drafting a Scott Boras client means that your team is going to be put through every wringer possible as Boras tries to hustle, hassle, and finagle every last dollar out by exposing loopholes in agreements that no one ever even knew existed. At best, it's annoying for the fans to deal with. But a guy like Boras is exactly what baseball needs.

If you're unfamiliar with the most recent Boras saga, allow me to get you up to speed (for all of the details, read Dejan Kovacevic's excellent piece at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's PBC Blog). In June, the Pirates drafted Pedro Alvarez with the second overall pick. After little contact the day of the August 15th deadline, the sides worked out a $6 million signing bonus on the cusp of the midnight deadline. Things got suspicious from there when Alvarez never reported to Pittsburgh for his physical or to sign the contract in person.

After nearly two weeks, word broke last Wednesday that the Pirates had placed Alvarez on the restricted list for not signing his deal and that the player's union (the MLBPA) was filing a grievance alleging that the contract had been signed after the midnight deadline. From there, the finger-pointing started between Boras and Pirates' CEO Frank Coonelly (formerly the MLB General Counsel in charge of draft slotting) with the Royals' first round pick, Eric Hosmer (who signed after the deadline with an extension from the commissioner's office) dragged into the feud.

Nothing escapes YouTube! That's Jose Guillen getting into it with the fans at a Royals game earlier this week (via Hot Clicks). I read about the "incident" earlier this week and wondered just how bad it was. The audio in this video isn't that great, but I didn't hear any profanity or anybody talking about Guillen's family, which is what he told reporters after the game. No, it was just a lot of people booing Guillen, with some laughter mixed in the more upset he got.

Mind you, this happened at Kauffman Stadium, so these were ostensibly Royals fans. There was a lot of booing coming from that section, it's not like it was coming from just one heckler.

All in all, it sounds like the fans and the players are getting a little sick of each other, especially after hearing Miguel Olivo's response when asked about his future plans. From Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star:

"It's only, what, (29) more games?" he said. "I'm going to do my best during that and that's it." [...] He and the team hold mutual options for next year, and Olivo said there's no way he'll return. "Hell no," he said.

Being 21 games under .500 will do that to you, I guess.

There are some headlines I never expect to see when I'm flipping through the newspaper in the morning, or just surfing around the internet. It happened to me this morning in fact when I was reading the Chicago Sun-Times and found out that Jay Mariotti is stepping down as the paper's lead sports columnist (and Chicagoans everywhere wonder who will tell them their teams suck).

Then there are those headlines I read that don't surprise me at all, and I saw one of those this morning as well. It read: Royals Jose Guillen restrained from heckler. The only shocking thing about that headline is that the Royals actually have fans, because we already know Jose is bat-poop crazy.

Kauffman Stadium security removed the fan, who started in on Guillen after he stopped at first base in the second inning after hitting a drive off the wall in left field.

"When I got that hit to left field, that guy started saying all kinds of stuff. 'Why didn't I make it to second?"' Guillen said. "Hey, I hit the ball hard. People who know baseball know the guy (Rangers left fielder Marlon Byrd) made a nice play. I had no chance to make it to second. I can deal with that."

As Eamonn was so kind to show us yesterday, Royals centerfielder Mitch Maier tried to revolutionize the act of hitting a baseball on Wednesday by teaching us all how to hit a ball with your face. It's just too bad that Mitch didn't think through the possible side effects of such an exercise.

Like broken cheek bones, exploding eyeballs, concussions, or the ever dangerous oily discharge. Still, only two days later Mitch did get some good news about his injuries. He's not going to need any plastic surgery and it appears his vision is fine.

The right side of Maier's face was swollen into a distorted shape. His right eye required an effort to open. His nose continued to bleed steadily.

Yet he remained jocularly upbeat.

"I feel all right," Maier insisted. "I don't have any pain really. I've just got a bloody nose and, obviously, the swelling. Beyond that, I feel fine pain-wise."

The first time you watch this clip, you'll likely think, oh, hmm. Maybe that high and tight whatever-it-was just hit his bat. After all, it sounded like a ball hitting wood. I'm sure that's what happened OH NO THAT'S THE SOUND OF A BASEBALL HITTING A FACE. AHHHHHH!

And then you will cry. Probably more than Mitch Maier -- who suffered several broken bones from the ordeal -- did.

To fans and the media, what a team does in the MLB Draft pales next to a big free-agent signing or blockbuster trade.

Part of that is the gaudy figures thrown around during the hot stove season. The Red Sox, this year's top spender in the draft, couldn't even buy one year of Gil Meche if they shifted their draft outlay to the open market. Most of it stems from immediacy, though. A big winter signing answers the question who will help me today? A big haul in the draft answers who will help me tomorrow, but in most cases tomorrow is years away, if it ever comes at all.

Still, as the cost of free agents escalates, the draft continues to become the most important way to ensure long-term success. With that in mind, and with the deadline to sign picks in the books, here's a look at three teams who won and three teams who lost in the 2008 draft

The August 15th deadline for signing draft picks has created some interesting drama in mid-August that didn't previously exist. With most high draft picks waiting until the 15th to sign, there was a ton of tension as midnight approached last night. One of the most interesting subplots, however, has been how Scott Boras has handled negotiations for his top prospects.

A year ago, he represented Mike Moustakas and Matt Wieters, picked second and fifth overall, respectively. After demanding huge signing bonuses for both of them, it was reported the he called the Royals and Orioles after 11:30 PM and mostly gave in to the teams' demands, with Moustakas signing for $4 miilion with the Royals and Wieters getting $6 million from Baltimore. That's certainly a lot of money, but it's not even close to what Boras had reportedly been asking for.

A similar scenario played itself out last night with second overall pick Pedro Alvarez (picked by the Pirates) and third pick Eric Hosmer (again, the Royals). After reportedly asking the Pirates for an eight-figure signing bonus for Alvarez and a major league contract and a similarly huge bonus and big-league signing contract for Hosmer, both players signed for $6 million bonuses and minor league deals within minutes of the midnight deadline.

So what's the deal? Two years, four demands that Boras has seemingly caved on. Is the superagent losing his touch?

With the Kansas City Royals spending most of their recent years at the bottom of their division, attendance at Royals games over the years hasn't been that great. It's not bad by any means, but there is seldom a home game where plenty of empty seats can't be seen around Kaufmann Stadium.

Well there won't be anymore, but not because Royals fever has struck the Kansas City area and games are selling out. No, it's just instead of seeing empty seats in the stadium we're going to be seeing a lot of orange cones and Men at Work signs.

Kauffman Stadium has been a construction zone this entire season as crews continue to work on the renovations. Whatever effects fans have felt so far will be increased significantly for the team's final 19 home games.

For example, your favorite seat might not exist anymore. And for some games, you might not be able to get one.

Some seats on all levels will either be removed or blocked, taking capacity from about 39,000 to about 27,000. The Royals' average attendance is 20,851, but 11 of their 61 home dates have drawn more than 27,000, including last Friday (33,653) and Saturday (27,960) against the Twins.

The good news for Royals fans is that they'll only be inconvenienced for the last month and a half. All work on the stadium is ahead of schedule, and will be completed before opening day next season.

Even when Ozzie Guillen is right he's wrong.

While the umpire crew chief may have apologized for his ejection on Sunday, the commissioner's office was less understanding for Guillen's post-game comments. After Guillen admitted in a fit of anger that he's asked a pitcher to hit a batter on purpose in the past and warned the Royals that it could happen again, Major League Baseball decided to suspend Guillen two games. Unlike when a player gets suspended, Guillen cannot appeal the decision, meaning he won't be allowed in the building tonight and tomorrow as the White Sox host the Tigers.

If it makes him feel any better, at least MLB isn't singling him out: the Royals had three people suspended. Miguel Olivo got five games for rushing the mound and Zack Greinke got five games for hitting Nick Swisher with a pitch. Because Greinke's bean ball came after both benches were warned, skipper Trey Hillman was handed an automatic one-game suspension.

I'm sure Guillen can't be happy about the suspension, but it was completely predictable -- you just can't admit to hitting a batter on purpose and expect the commissioner's office to look the other way.

Well, this is hardly surprising: something Ozzie Guillen said may land him in trouble.

Guillen went on a verbal tirade following Sunday's brawl-filled game with the Royals, upset at being ejected in the fifth after umpire Tim Timmons decided that D.J. Carrasco was intentionally trying to hit Miguel Olivo. Guillen admitted that he's asked his pitchers to bean players in the past but denied doing it on Sunday, and then gave a not-so-subtle warning to the Royals, saying, "I signed a five-year deal with this club, and we're going to play Kansas City a lot."

The ironic thing is that Guillen was technically in the right -- the umpire crew chief eventually apologized to him after viewing the tape and realizing that Carrasco was simply erratic and not being a headhunter. But does being justifiably upset excuse what was said in anger? That's what the the league office is trying to decide.