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ESPN's Rob Neyer had a semi-thorough review of agent Scott Boras's big deals over the past 10 years. Neyer's conclusion? Buyer beware. Read this quickly as it is an ESPN Insider article that is being made available for free for some reason.

Basically Neyer took the top Boras client signing over the past 10 years and looked at the player's 2 seasons prior and seasons since the signing. It is 7 bad, 3 good. And ARod qualifies as a good signing, except that Neyer points out that the Texas Rangers (the deal Neyer reviewed for this study) was good from a statistical standpoint for ARod, but not for the Rangers as a team as they remained bad. And for whatever reason, they felt it a good idea to trade ARod and assume $51mm of his contract. Does that suggest anything?

Have the Yankees courted 10 years of mediocre play? Obviously each contract is different as is each player. But I'll stick with my guns and say that when you pay a player so much more than the next guy, it causes problems. The Red Sox signing of Manny Ramirez 7 years ago might be the only exception. Why? Because Manny is a unique personality. I think it is dumb luck actually as Manny does anything he can to avoid the spotlight and attention usually afforded very rich sports types. Maybe I'm kidding myself.

ARod is going to make at least $27mm a year for the next 10 years and has incentives that will pay him, based on personal accomplishments, another $30mm or so. Scott Boras gets top dollar for his clients (I don't know how much he was involved in this deal, but he already made ARod a ton previously) and while it makes the player rich, it usually makes the team regret. Usually.

Posted by Andy (Red Sox) at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)

I just heard an interview with Buster Olney on ESPN Radio in New York and it centered around Santana. Olney says that he sees no way Santana signs for less than 6 years/$25 million per. With his no-trade clause, he is going to demand that salary before he approves a deal anywhere. The Twins have apparently talked to the Yankees about a package of Hughes, Cabrera and (interestingly) Austin Jackson and the Red Sox about a package of Ellsbury, Buckholz and Lester.

Olney felt that between the price and the prospects, neither team would make a deal and the only team he could see pulling the trigger on this trade was the Mets. The problem is, the Mets don't have the same level of prospects and Olney wasn't sure Minnesota would take a lesser package centering around Milledge and Pelfry for Santana. His ultimate conclusion was that Santana wasn't going anywhere.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Boston Globe (link via ESPN) is reporting that 11 players who are free agents will be named in the Mitchell Report. The story states that the players have been notified, but what about the GM's?

We know that free agents can start signing with new teams next week, but are teams supposed to be bidding on guys who may have cheated without knowing it? Mitchell is apparently collecting evidence until Saturday and then finishing the report, but this looks like another mess for baseball. I guess we will know the reason if we see a free agent sign right away for less money than expected, but this seems like an odd way to run a billion-dollar business.

Posted by Peter (Yankees) at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)