Is Scott Boras a 'Bad Person?'

The total payroll of the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox in 2007? $143 million, second most in all of Major League Baseball according to USA Today.

The payroll of the worst team? The $24.1 million fronted by the Tampa Bay Rays (formerly Devil Rays), resulting in a total of 66 wins during the regular season.

It seems like a simple strategy. Spend money to win. The bad news for baseball is that not every team, not every city, not every owner can afford to put up that kind of cash, and thus the lack of parody in baseball is created.

A further look into the payrolls of these two example teams gives an even deeper insight into baseball's problem. Consider that Boston's three best hitters - Manny Ramirez ($17 mil.), David Ortiz ($13 mil.), and Mike Lowell ($9 mil.) - make a combined $39 million, almost twice the entire Rays' team salary. Add in JD Drew's $14 million dollar paycheck and the Sox surpass that benchmark easily.

And JD Drew is really where the problem lies. Not because he's a bad player, and not because he's a bad person, but because of what he represents, or, rather, who represents him.

Scott Boras has long been known as the super-agent. A guy who has the power, ability, and bravado to make any client walk from any team, to convince any rookie to stay in college or go semi-pro over a mere $500K in signing bonus money, to change the game of baseball at it's very core.

Boras' most recent episode involves a figure we've all come to know and love - at least know - over the past ten years. It began with Alex Rodriguez's record 10 year, $252 million deal with the Texas Rangers before the 2000 season. The frenzy continued when, this past season, A-Rod was to decide his own fate with a player option that was built in his contract. Would he stay with the New York Yankees, a team with which he has faced many challenges from fans, teammates, and the New York media? Or would he bolt for a calmer place like Los Angeles, a smaller market like Cleveland, or a rival brother in the Mets?

It all came to a head when A-Rod announced that he would opt out of his last years with the Yankees and hit the free agent market on the very same night that the rival Red Sox clinched the World Series title. Rodriguez was ripped throughout the baseball world for stealing the thunder of the deserving champions, and it would have all been deserved had he actually had anything to do with the plan. Instead, A-Rod did the right thing in revealing the true evil behind the situation, one Mr. Scott Boras.

Yes, it all came out that it was Boras' idea to release the information that night, and after the quick canning of his now former agent, Rodriguez made peace with New York and came back to wear the pinstripes with a new record deal that topped even his former contract. Except this time Boras didn't get the commission.

A prime example of how Scott Boras has negatively affected the baseball world, a world formerly of tradition and honor, now marred with the disdainful attributes of greed and pettiness. Let's make a short list of the negative things Boras has brought to the table:

1. Boras has convinced many clients to leave the places, cities, fans, and teams that they were brought up with, that they had developed in, and that they cared about, decreasing along the way the amount of loyalty in the game. Example: Andruw Jones spent 11 years with the Atlanta Braves, had one 50 HR season, hit .222 in 2007, and thanks to his agent decided that the Braves couldn't afford him anymore, leaving a city that stuck with him through thin and thick (really thick) for a 2-year, $36 million dollar deal, resulting in the fifth-highest per-year salary in baseball history. For a player that hit .222.

2. Boras has affected numerous draft picks by convincing rookies not to sign for any less than a specific amount, leaving many rookies to go back to college ball or resort to the semi-pro ranks until the next season. It is known that there are certain GM's that will not draft any Boras-represented players, including White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf. This could negatively affect players by increasing their risk of getting hurt and never making the majors, and it affects their pay by directly changing their draft position. All for his own cut of the bonus.

3. Boras isn't solely responsible for the salary rift in baseball, but he certainly hasn't helped bring teams together. The teams that have more can pay more, and so it's not likely that Boras' clients - most of them star players that could carry a franchise - will ever even speak with a team like Tampa Bay or Milwaukee. Example: Scott Kazmir of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is represented by Scott Boras. He is widely regarded as one of the best young pitchers in baseball today. What do you think the chances are that Kazmir signs a long-term deal with his current team? I say zero. Boras will push and push the demanded salary up until only a handful of "usuals" are even in the running. Heck, the Yankees always need pitching right?

So, yes, Scott Boras is bad for the game, and it's about time someone had the guts to step up and point it out. Kudos to you, A-Rod, for standing up for what you wanted instead of what your agent needed in his wallet, and for finally kicking him to the curb. Congrats to you, Gary Sheffield, a man who I have long had a hatred for but finally respect in the wake of your disgruntled comments about your former scumbag representative.

Now, in Boras' defense, we don't know that he is actually a "bad person". He could be a really nice guy outside of work. He could be a really good family man. He could be a really cool drinking buddy. Also, he didn't invent the problems in baseball today, he has only taken advantage of a flawed system without any sort of team salary restrictions. None of that, however, grants him any sort of immunity from baseball's united evil eye.

Maybe with the recent outcry of negativity against Boras from his clients, we can finally take away some of his business and run him out of the sport. He's begun to do that himself with draft picks who are afraid of his nametag and those who aren't solely obsessed with the green. It's time to go away, Scott. It's time to leave baseball alone. You wouldn't want any more people thinking of you as a "bad person", would you?

Scott Boras, Wikipedia
2007 MLB Salaries, USA Today