Boras: Cancer of trading veterans led to Braves’ title
Top agent backs players’ demand for new collective bargaining agreement
Baseball’s most influential agent said the sport was the victim of a “competitive cancer” caused by teams unloading veterans to accumulate draft picks and said the Atlanta Braves’ World Series title was a direct result of others’ tanking.
Speaking Wednesday at the general managers’ meetings, Scott Boras backed the demands of the players’ association for changes in the collective bargaining agreement that expires Dec. 1. The sport is braced for a lockout that would be baseball’s ninth work stoppage but first since 1995.
“This is the Easter Bunny delivering rotten eggs,” he said in front of Bob’s Steak & Chop House at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
“Every team says, ‘I need to do this because it’s my only option, knowing I can’t reach a divisional crest, I can’t get in the playoffs.’”
Atlanta was 51-53 when it obtained outfielders Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Jorge Soler along with reliever Richard Rodriguez in four swaps in the hours before the July 30 trade deadline. It also added outfielder Joc Pederson from the free-falling Cubs on July 15.
“We have seen the championship in 60 days,” Boras said. “The rules allow them to be a less-than-.500 team at Aug. 1 and add four players, five players from teams that no longer wanted to compete, and for very little cost change the entirety of their team and season.
“And we saw this unfold to the detriment of teams that create at vast expense, planning and intellect and won over 100 games. In doing all this, we have now created an understanding that a fan would not know who the true team is until, frankly, the trading deadline.”
Rosario was NL Championship Series MVP and Soler became World Series MVP as the Braves won their first title since 1995.
“The Atlanta Braves are the Atlanta Braves because tanking teams said, ‘I want to get to the bottom to get those draft picks,’“Boras said.
Teams draft in the reverse order of their regular-season record.
Boras blames behavior on restraints imposed on amateur spending in 2012. The caps came as the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros undertook rebuilds that resulted in World Series titles, informing decisions by other clubs to tear down.
Boras represents many top draft picks and has lost revenue because of the system of draft signing pools that no team has exceeded by more than 5 percent.
Boras represents five of the eight men on the union’s executive subcommittee: Zack Britton, Gerrit Cole, James Paxton, Max Scherzer and Marcus Semien, who switched his agency to Boras last month. Jason Castro, Francisco Lindor and Andrew Miller are the other members.
Castro, at $3.5 million, is the only one of the eight who earned under $12 million this year. Just 86 players among 1,695 who played in the major leagues this season earned $12 million or more as of Aug. 31, including prorated shares of signing bonuses.
Awards: Chicago’s Liam Hendriks earned his second straight Mariano Rivera Award as the American League Reliever of the Year on Wednesday, and Milwaukee’s Josh Hader won his third Trevor Hoffman Award as the National League Reliever of the Year. Hendriks had an 8-3 record and 38 saves in 44 chances with a 2.54 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 71 innings during his first season with the White Sox. Hader was 4-2 with a career-best 1.23 ERA and 34 saves in 35 chances. He also won in 2018 and ‘19. He struck out 102 in 58 2⁄3 innings. Voting was based on regular season performance and was conducted among seven former relievers: Rivera, Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Lee Smith, John Franco and Billy Wagner . ... Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena and Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India were named rookies of the year by Baseball Digest and ebay. Arozarena won the American League award Wednesday after batting .274 with 20 home runs and 69 RBIS for the AL East champions this season. He also had 20 stolen bases, 32 doubles, 94 runs and an .815 OPS. India took the NL honor after hitting .269 with 21 homers and 69 RBIS. He had 98 runs, 34 doubles, 12 steals and an .835 OPS. This marks the 50th consecutive season that Baseball Digest has presented rookie of the year awards. Arozarena received five of seven first-place votes to beat out Houston Astros pitcher Luis Garcia in balloting announced by the publication. Both are finalists, along with Rays shortstop Wander Franco, for AL Rookie of the Year in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which will be announced Monday.