By: William Saulsbery
Yes...and No
First...the Yes
Yes because he drives prices up and small to mid market teams out. He sits with teams like the Brewers, Reds, or Astros and lets them know the Mets, Yanks and SOX are all in the mix and bidding higher...he bends half truths, rewords offers and tries to convince people that there are no real small market teams just like that nut job professor tried to convince me once that there was no third world and that it was just a creation of the liberal media to get us to donate money for kids at Christmas that really just goes to some pyramid scheme benefiting producers of rice, low quality commericals and Sally Struthers. Well, no matter how you spin it, there is a third world and there are small market teams. Without a salary cap there will never be a level playing field in free agency. The beauty of a salary cap is that you need the smartest GM, not the one with the biggest check book. The bottom line is, if the Yankees want you...they will get you...they can make it real hard to say no. Boras will drive the price up and up, and raise the ceiling every single year... Which leads me to...
No...I don't hate him...
You know what Scott Boras does???? His job...and he does it better than anyone else on the planet. Every off season he gets everyone of his clients exactly what they want. He's not getting paid to make us fans happy, he's not getting paid to make sure the Royals are competitive, he's not getting paid to give clubs a "Hometown Discount"...he's paid to get his clients money and opportunity to make more money...and he does it. We hate him because he is really really good at his job...It's not his fault baseball doesn't have a salary cap...it's not his fault the Yankees and SOX have more money than God...nothing in baseball is his fault. Let me repeat that...nothing in baseball is his fault. It's the fault of the owners and the union. The reason small market teams are suffering is because baseball exists in a seemingly limitless free market capitalist system. Look yourself in the mirror right now...go ahead...I'll give you a second...ready?...Do you want a salary cap at your job...do you want someone coming in and saying, "No raise this year Bob, you see, your $12.75 an hour is the max for the position you are in...ohhh...and there's no position above yours." That's what a salary cap does. It tells a player that there is a "cap" on what you can earn.
The final reason I don't hate Scott Boras, players are only worth what someone is willing to pay them, and he will make you feel like you are worth hell of a lot, and who of us doesn't want that feeling? Hey, in the parlance of our times..."Don't hate the player...hate the game."
-William Saulsbery
William Saulsbery is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and a native St. Louisian
0 comments:
Post a Comment