Saulbadguy
12-13-2004, 01:11 PM
Wow..
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=1945084
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Five years and 70 million bucks. That's the answer.
The question, here on this very special baseball edition of Double Jeopardy, is:
Carlos Beltran
Carlos Beltran's preference is to return to Houston.
What do the Houston Astros think Carlos Beltran is worth?
There were mixed signals Sunday on whether the Astros actually presented that offer to Beltran's agent, Scott Boras, this weekend at baseball's winter meetings. But Astros GM Tim Purpura did meet with Boras to discuss Beltran. And multiple sources indicated the Astros at least let Boras know those were the basic parameters they had in mind.
For the moment, of course, Boras finds that kind of talk more laughable than Saturday Night Live.
One team that inquired about Beltran reported it was told it wouldn't even be considered a "serious" bidder unless it was willing to begin the conversation with a 10-year, $200-million synonym for "hello."
And Boras continues to talk confidently of getting that price. Just don't ask where or from whom.
According to people who have spoken with the Yankees, they're prepared to deliver a very similar offer whenever Boras decides his offer shop is open for business: Five years, somewhere in the range of $70-75 million.
And, as other teams get sick of waiting around and turn their attention elsewhere, the only other team that looks like a potential bidder -- the Cubs -- are already at $90 million for next season and can't pursue anybody until (OK, make that unless) they find a new home for Sammy Sosa.
So where is this leading?
Boras' strategy, clearly, is to wait until he pops his New Year's Eve champagne corks and then get down to business.
At that point, it would be only a week until the deadline for Beltran to re-sign with the Astros. And, as an agent who loves deadlines almost as much as dollar signs, he no doubt anticipates the Astros will be so terrified of losing Beltran to the Yankees by then, they'll be adding years and millions to his pile by the shovelful.
But given owner Drayton McLane's frugal history, we wouldn't be so sure of that.
"We're not going to bid against ourselves," Purpura said. "What we're paid to do in this business is to analyze and evaluate what we think a player's value is. And we have a range, on the value scale, where we think Carlos fits in the market and where he fits in our budget. And that budget is probably the most significant part of the equation.
"So those are our parameters. And we can't be swept up in what somebody else might do."
Scott Boras
Boras
In other words, we wouldn't look for the Astros to triple their offer the first time Boras utters the magic phrase, "mystery team."
So if Boras reacts by nudging Beltran past that deadline, where it becomes impossible for him to return to Houston, it will be so late in the offseason that the Yankees conceivably could be the only remaining serious bidder. And how is that good for anybody?
We don't claim to know as much about negotiating as Boras. But in our experience, it's tough to stoke up a good bidding war when there's only one team playing.
And we're pretty sure Boss Steinbrenner didn't make all his money without figuring that out somewhere along the line himself.
Oh, maybe this strategy will, in fact, get Beltran the big buckaroos. Maybe it will make him the first free agent to bust through the $15 million-a-year barrier on a multiyear contract since Jason Giambi did it three winters ago.
But in the end, is his biggest client really being served by this approach?
"You know, baseball players like stability," said an official of one club that once thought it would be interested in Beltran. "This is crazy. This thing is going to drag into the middle of January, and maybe later. What's the point of that?"
But in the case of Beltran in particular, people who know him say he doesn't just like stability. He happens to like Houston.
He liked his teammates. He liked the city. He liked the large Hispanic community. He liked the atmosphere in the ballpark. He liked the way those KEEPCARLOSBELTRAN.COM signs seemed to multiply around town as the Astros began rolling into October.
In other words, his first choice is not to go play in New York. It's to return to Houston. He has told that to a number of his friends in baseball. He just hasn't told it to the Astros themselves -- because he hasn't been allowed to speak to them.
"Out of respect for Carlos, he's indicated he'd like things to go through Scott," Purpura said. "So we've respected that."
But sometime before these negotiations conclude, Purpura suggested, the Astros' brass wants to "have a dialogue" with Beltran himself. When a team makes a player the largest contract offer in franchise history, he said, it's not talking about making him just another employee. It's talking about "creating a significant partnership."
In other words, that five-year, $70 million offer is not one the Astros make lightly. But what they're finding out is that one man's "significant partnership" is another man's lowball offer -- one that can't even be considered "serious."
And there's no better commentary on the modern state of free-agent insanity than that.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=1945084
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Five years and 70 million bucks. That's the answer.
The question, here on this very special baseball edition of Double Jeopardy, is:
Carlos Beltran
Carlos Beltran's preference is to return to Houston.
What do the Houston Astros think Carlos Beltran is worth?
There were mixed signals Sunday on whether the Astros actually presented that offer to Beltran's agent, Scott Boras, this weekend at baseball's winter meetings. But Astros GM Tim Purpura did meet with Boras to discuss Beltran. And multiple sources indicated the Astros at least let Boras know those were the basic parameters they had in mind.
For the moment, of course, Boras finds that kind of talk more laughable than Saturday Night Live.
One team that inquired about Beltran reported it was told it wouldn't even be considered a "serious" bidder unless it was willing to begin the conversation with a 10-year, $200-million synonym for "hello."
And Boras continues to talk confidently of getting that price. Just don't ask where or from whom.
According to people who have spoken with the Yankees, they're prepared to deliver a very similar offer whenever Boras decides his offer shop is open for business: Five years, somewhere in the range of $70-75 million.
And, as other teams get sick of waiting around and turn their attention elsewhere, the only other team that looks like a potential bidder -- the Cubs -- are already at $90 million for next season and can't pursue anybody until (OK, make that unless) they find a new home for Sammy Sosa.
So where is this leading?
Boras' strategy, clearly, is to wait until he pops his New Year's Eve champagne corks and then get down to business.
At that point, it would be only a week until the deadline for Beltran to re-sign with the Astros. And, as an agent who loves deadlines almost as much as dollar signs, he no doubt anticipates the Astros will be so terrified of losing Beltran to the Yankees by then, they'll be adding years and millions to his pile by the shovelful.
But given owner Drayton McLane's frugal history, we wouldn't be so sure of that.
"We're not going to bid against ourselves," Purpura said. "What we're paid to do in this business is to analyze and evaluate what we think a player's value is. And we have a range, on the value scale, where we think Carlos fits in the market and where he fits in our budget. And that budget is probably the most significant part of the equation.
"So those are our parameters. And we can't be swept up in what somebody else might do."
Scott Boras
Boras
In other words, we wouldn't look for the Astros to triple their offer the first time Boras utters the magic phrase, "mystery team."
So if Boras reacts by nudging Beltran past that deadline, where it becomes impossible for him to return to Houston, it will be so late in the offseason that the Yankees conceivably could be the only remaining serious bidder. And how is that good for anybody?
We don't claim to know as much about negotiating as Boras. But in our experience, it's tough to stoke up a good bidding war when there's only one team playing.
And we're pretty sure Boss Steinbrenner didn't make all his money without figuring that out somewhere along the line himself.
Oh, maybe this strategy will, in fact, get Beltran the big buckaroos. Maybe it will make him the first free agent to bust through the $15 million-a-year barrier on a multiyear contract since Jason Giambi did it three winters ago.
But in the end, is his biggest client really being served by this approach?
"You know, baseball players like stability," said an official of one club that once thought it would be interested in Beltran. "This is crazy. This thing is going to drag into the middle of January, and maybe later. What's the point of that?"
But in the case of Beltran in particular, people who know him say he doesn't just like stability. He happens to like Houston.
He liked his teammates. He liked the city. He liked the large Hispanic community. He liked the atmosphere in the ballpark. He liked the way those KEEPCARLOSBELTRAN.COM signs seemed to multiply around town as the Astros began rolling into October.
In other words, his first choice is not to go play in New York. It's to return to Houston. He has told that to a number of his friends in baseball. He just hasn't told it to the Astros themselves -- because he hasn't been allowed to speak to them.
"Out of respect for Carlos, he's indicated he'd like things to go through Scott," Purpura said. "So we've respected that."
But sometime before these negotiations conclude, Purpura suggested, the Astros' brass wants to "have a dialogue" with Beltran himself. When a team makes a player the largest contract offer in franchise history, he said, it's not talking about making him just another employee. It's talking about "creating a significant partnership."
In other words, that five-year, $70 million offer is not one the Astros make lightly. But what they're finding out is that one man's "significant partnership" is another man's lowball offer -- one that can't even be considered "serious."
And there's no better commentary on the modern state of free-agent insanity than that.