The Dodgers officially introduced P Kevin Brown to the
media after signing him to a seven-year, $105M contract at
the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville. Dodgers GM Kevin
Malone dismissed criticism of the deal: "What? We're not
supposed to try because we have the resources? We're not
supposed to try to get better?" (L.A. TIMES, 12/16). More
Malone: "The Dodgers have to show the industry that we're
going to be aggressive. ... A lot of people are afraid
because we're determined ... again" (L.A. TIMES, 12/15).
BORAS DEFINES THE MARKET: Brown's agent Scott Boras
spoke Monday on his controversial deal making Brown the
highest paid player in MLB history: "I've heard it all ...
'You're wrecking the game, you're pushing teams to the
limit.' It's as if in dealing with me, their team suddenly
becomes dysfunctional, short-circuited. I mean, is there a
perception now that I misled the Dodgers or misread the
market? My job isn't to create the market. My job is to
define the market." If Boras takes his 5% cut of Brown's
contract, he stands to make a $5.25M commission. Angels GM
Bill Bavasi: "He's definitely there for his client, but I
don't think he's the devil and I don't think he had to carry
a .357 into Kevin Malone's room" (L.A. TIMES, 12/15).
CALL YOUR BLUFF? Padres President Larry Lucchino has
criticized the way teams and agents negotiate and said that
"corrective action is needed." Lucchino "is convinced that
teams" bidding for Brown's services "reacted to what he
called misinformation" from Boras. Lucchino claims that the
Padres were "led to believe the offers from other teams were
higher than they actually were." Lucchino floats the idea
of presenting all offers through the media, be made in
writing, or "go through a third party" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/16).
NASHVILLE POST-MORTEM: In Akron, Sheldon Ocker wrote
that MLB's club participation in the Winter Meetings after a
six-year absence was "hardly a raging success." The
meetings were "supposed to give baseball a pre-Christmas
promotional jolt" with trades and other activity. But only
one trade was made and the meetings "closed on a distinctly
gloomy note" as the Brown deal and the demands of Roger
Clemens "served only to remind baseball's deep thinkers that
the industry is in trouble" (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 12/15).
