Boras-Manfred Argument About MLB Finances Gets More Heated

Manfred Claims Boras Is Making Up Revenue-Sharing Numbers

As the MLB free agent market officially opens Friday, the war of words between Scott Boras, the most powerful agent in baseball, and MLB Exec VP/Labor Relations Rob Manfred continues to escalate. Boras is questioning why Manfred is publicly attacking him for saying that small market teams are receiving nearly $80M from revenue sharing and the league's central fund before a ticket is sold. Manfred said of Boras, "He completely made those numbers up." Earlier this week Manfred made similar statements to other media, including telling the Boston Globe that Boras' comments "have no basis in reality" and said Boras was living in "fantasy land." Boras Thursday said that his comments were based on an August 16 N.Y. Daily News story by Bill Madden which stated that the Pirates received more than $40M in revenue sharing and $35M from MLB's central fund. "You have to ask the question of why the very same information that was (stated by) me in November was not reacted to by Rob Manfred in August, when Madden wrote it," Boras said. "It went un-rebutted. There is factual merit to the facts that Madden wrote and that is why Rob did not address it in August. Why did it take him three months to comment on it?" Manfred reached Thursday night said, "What Boras said was not accurate. I don't care where he purported to get it. What he said was not accurate and I corrected it. There is nothing more to it." But Boras questioned why Manfred continued to dispute his statement while not providing the actual facts. Boras: "Manfred provides no further information other than his subjective statement" (Mullen & Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

Boras Says He Uses Documented Sources In His Arguments

HE SAID, HE SAID: FOXSPORTS.com's Ken Rosenthal wrote under the header, "Boras-Manfred War Of Words An Unsettling Omen." Manfred said of Boras, "Just like when he does a player negotiation he lies about the numbers in order to get the price up, now he's taken that to the macro-economic level and lying about industry numbers in order to get player (contract) numbers up. There is no one club getting $80[M] or $90[M] in combination from revenue sharing and Central Baseball. Not one." Boras retorted, "Rob Manfred works for the owners, has always worked for the owners. The information I've gathered is from documented, substantive sources -- the Daily News, the SportsBusiness Journal. I stand on the record of documented information, not on the basis of information of someone who is biased due to his employment." Meanwhile, Pirates President Frank Coonelly and an AL team president Wednesday insisted that the $35M figure Boras is using is "inaccurate." Boras said that there is a "way to settle the discrepancy -- by requiring clubs in the next collective-bargaining agreement to disclose the amount of money they receive from the central fund and from revenue sharing" (FOXSPORTS.com, 11/19).