08 | November | 2007 | Bryan Joiner

November 8, 2007

Boras Sits Down With Red Sox

The Boston Globe reported that Scott Boras had a sit down with the Red Sox to discuss Alex Rodriguez, but Boras insisted it was to discuss all of his clients. Boras clients J.D. Drew, Jason Varitek and Daisuke Matsuzaka are already on the Red Sox roster. Behold the mind of a master tactician.

Theo: Hello Scott.
Boras: Hey Theo, did you like that Grand Slam?
Theo: …
Boras: He’s speechless! Nah, I’m just kidding. I’m just here to check up on those clients of mine: J.D., Varitek, Dice-K, Pedroia…
Theo: You don’t represent Pedroia.
Boras: You have your story, I have mine. Mine is that several teams are interested in Pedroia at $12 million per. But he’d be happy to give you guys a hometown discount of $1 million. Not because he loves playing here, but he’s a local kid.
Theo: He’s from California.
Boras: And that’s practically on top of Boston. That’s why he’s willing to forego that extra $500,000.
Theo: You said one million.
Boras: You’re entitled to your opinion.
Theo: Why are you here again?
Boras: I’m not sure Varitek is happy here any more. He misses Japan.
Theo: That’s Dice-K.
Boras: He does like the nickname. It’s pretty clever. He’s willing to knock $2 million off his asking price just for that.
Theo: He’s already under contract.
Boras: You obviously didn’t read the contract close enough. It said that if he was named World Series MVP, he had the right to negotiate a new deal.
Theo: He wasn’t the MVP.
Boras: Not of this World Series, no.
Theo: Of any World Series.
Boras: You’re sure about that? I’m fairly sure I heard that Mike Lowell was the World Series MVP.
Theo: We were talking about Jason Varitek. You don’t represent Lowell.
Boras: That depends on your definition of “represent.” We’ll do $50 million for three years.
Theo: For who?
Boras: Drew.
Theo: He’s already signed.
Boras: Then why are we here?
Theo: You called the meeting. You tell me.
Boras: Did it have to do with A-Rod?
Theo: Probably, but we’re not interested.
Boras: Really?
Theo: Yes.
Boras: Really?
Theo: Yes.
Boras: Really?
Theo: Yes.
Boras: Really?
Theo: Yes.
Boras: Really?
Theo: No.
Boras: My work here is done.

4 Comments

November 8, 2007

C’s Keep Rolling

Not much to say here except that if you don’t miss shots, you’re probably going to win a lot of games. Garnett has been as-advertised, but I think this season is quickly shaping up to be a referendum on Paul Pierce: is he a good player, or is he a great one? I’ll admit that I was always in the former camp, but this year he’s going to get enough open looks to earn/re-earn his superstar reputation.

One thing bothers me, though: the notion that Pierce is the team’s captain. This seems to stem solely by virtue of his service to the organization. SI’s season preview described in detail how Pierce gained weight and was mentally checking out of games last year — those aren’t the actions of a team leader. I’m not dogging Pierce here. You can be ultra-competitive and a great player without being a team leader, and it’s not a diss to say so. Kobe would fall into the same camp. There aren’t that many team leaders out there, but the ones that are should be captains. Kevin Garnett is a team leader. He should be the captain in name if he already is so in spirit.

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November 8, 2007

Unifying the Belts

Here’s a month’s worth of Sports Illustrated covers. See if you can spot the pattern.

2 Comments

November 8, 2007

Shula “Backtracks”

“If they run the table, and they win all the games, then they are doing it within the rules of the National Football League. And there shouldn’t be any asterisk to it. That would be the accomplishment that they made. It would be the best in all of sports.”

Again, it’s a shame that he apologized for something he almost certainly did not say. This is a predictable 2-day story that could have been easily avoided if Gary Myers had done his job.

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