Boras takes a backseat at GM meetings
Posted: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 5:34 PM
The general managers are meeting in Nashville and we know that super agent Scott Boras is not the show.
The puppeteer lost major credibility when A-Rod listened to Warren Buffett. How must Boras have felt when the New York Times promoted his winter meetings appearance as representing David Newhan?
Nashville is about trades. The general managers are in control. Three winters ago, Boras held the offseason hostage through the shopping of free agent Carlos Beltran. Now Minnesota’s new general manager, Bill Smith, is the captain of these meetings, leading the Yankees and Red Sox through an advanced game of poker with Johan Santana as the huge pot in the middle of the table.
Boras will try to entice some needy general manager to toss huge dollars at free-agent center fielder Andruw Jones, but that’s merely a side dish to the main course of trades that are widely anticipated.
Baseball has awakened to see Colorado in the World Series with 15 homegrown players and Arizona win a division with 14 homegrown players. Why take the risk in the “inefficient” (Theo Epstein’s term) market of free agency?
There is a new blustery voice from the Yankees. A Steinbrenner is back in the tabloids. Not George, but son Hank, who has taken over for his father as the voice of baseball in the Bronx. And he is sounding like the new sheriff. Minnesota was told by Hank there was a deadline on the Yankees' offer for Santana. The Twins ignored that deadline. Sheriff Hank says there will be no bidding game between the Yankees and Red Sox for the two-time Cy Young winner, a wise move if Steinbrenner holds to that credo.
Notice who isn’t in the bidding for Santana? The Mets. How this must sting them that the Yankees -- forever forsaking youth for free agency -- now have the players more attractive to Minnesota. Credit to Yankees general manager Brian Cashman for building this system amidst the franchise's win-everything-now mindset. And it is noticed that Mets general manager Omar Minaya in both Montreal and New York has traded prospects he inherited and developed less in the farm system.
Marvin Miller never had a chance for the Hall of Fame. The man who made the single greatest impact on baseball in the last half-century gained 25 percent of the votes from this revamped veteran's committee? Yes, that's right -- just 25 percent.
And Bowie Kuhn is elected.
The lunacy of that is indescribable. Kuhn made not one positive impact on baseball. Check that. On ESPN.com, Kuhn’s bio lists “highlights of tenure include...introduction of free agency.” Huh? I hope Miller can find enough resolve to enjoy a belly laugh at that piece of revisionist history.
Troy Tulowitzki was robbed. Leftover from the awards presented recently is this gem about NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun. “He shouldn’t even look at a bat this winter. Instead, he should take 100-150 ground balls a day. That’s where he needs to work and focus his game.” The quote came from Braun’s manager, Ned Yost.
