Boras: Incentive to win lacking

By The Associated Press

Agent Scott Boras said the number of Major League Baseball teams rebuilding with younger, lower-cost rosters has become a cancer to the sport, attributing behavior to the strengthened luxury tax combining with restraints on draft-pick salaries.

Boras attributes baseball’s attendance drop to an increase in non-competitive teams, predicts fans from perennial losers increasingly will stay away from ballparks until ticket prices are cut and said regional sports networks will negotiate lower rights fees with teams going into rebuild cycles.

J. D. Martinez, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Jake Arrieta, all Boras clients, remain unsigned 10 days before spring training in a historically slow market. He says the luxury tax, envisioned by commissioner Bud Selig to increase competitive balance, is having the opposite effect. He claims incentives are needed to winning, such as increasing draft-pick money based on victories.

“They decided we’re going to have the 12 teams-atanking, if you will, and therefore you’re got a noncompetitive cancer and this is completely opposite of what commissioner Selig in good-faith sought in bargaining,” Boras said Monday.

Since 2012, baseball’s collective bargaining agreement has limited the amount teams can spend on signing bonuses for amateur draft picks, making their cost predictable. Teams draft in reverse order of record, and clubs with higher selections are given larger amounts in their signing-bonus pools.

Astros

WorldSeries MVP George Springer and Houston avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a $24 million, two-year contract. Springer gets $12 million annually under the deal and will be eligible for arbitration again after the 2019 season.

Mets

Free-agent third baseman Todd Frazier and New York reportedly have agreed on a two-year contract for $17 million. The deal was still pending a physical.

Rangers

Right-hander Bartolo Colon, 44, agreed to a minor league contract with Texas and he will attend big-league spring training. Colon would get a $1.75 million, one-year contract if added to the 40man roster and could make an additional $1.3 million in performancebonuses.

Yankees

Marcus Thames was promoted to hitting coach, replacing Alan Cockrell on the staff of new manager Aaron Boone.