Boras lamented a "corrupt" MLB free agency system, where veteran players have been undervaluedGETTY IMAGES
MLB agent Scott Boras predicted that the recent league "freeze on free agency could thaw sooner rather than later," according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. Boras said, "Clubs are wanting meetings and wanting to get in front of the players. They're all telling me they want to make much earlier decisions. I did not hear any of that last year." Asked if any of his high-profile clients might sign before mid-January, Boras said, "All of them have the possibility of signing much earlier than that." Last year, Boras' client Bryce Harper did not sign his free-agent contract with the Phillies until late February (ESPN.com, 11/13). Boras said MLB's free agent system "is corrupt," as it "does not properly place progressive values [on] players at all." Boras: "We got these excellent players performing at extremely high levels, and they're extremely undervalued." Boras said that it is time for MLB clubs to "value experience." Boras: "We have clubs who outwardly reject having those players on their team because they're too expensive. 'I don't want to put any form of revenue into that, because frankly, I don't want to win 82 games, I want to win 69 games, because I get rewarded for it.' And that's in our current system, where the real cancer of it is today" (USA TODAY, 11/14). In N.Y., Ken Davidoff notes Boras, in "expressing his annual criticisms of the industry, lamented that these luxury-tax thresholds, instituted by [MLB Commissioner Emeritus] Bud Selig, serve as 'rails' to protect the owners from their own irresponsibility" (N.Y. POST, 11/14).
LAGGING BEHIND: In Boston, Peter Abraham wrote the NBA and NFL have "turned free agency into a product, a frenzy of news over a few days that entertains fans and brings attention to their respective sports during an otherwise quiet period of the calendar." Meanwhile, MLB has a "laborious process." Instead of an "exciting week or two and wall-to-wall media coverage, baseball subjects its players, teams, and fans to an uncomfortable seat in the waiting room for months on end." Abraham: "In the end, nobody benefits" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/12).
