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Super Star
So Alex Rodriguez and Scott Boras are no longer speaking to each other, the $300 million man told Katie Couric. Wow. This is like Alien vs. Predator - Who, exactly, are we supposed to root for in this little drama-queen adventure?
A-Rod is mad because he was made to look like a bad guy by Boras and the way the opt-out provision of his contract was handled. Boras is mad because A-Rod went behind his back to Hank Steinbrenner, after first consulting his buddy Warren Buffett, of course, and negotiated his own $275 million mega-deal.
Two thoughts:
1) I wish I had Warren Buffett to turn to for financial advice. Of course it probably wouldn't matter even if I could get a few quick little nuggets of wisdom from ol'Warren, since he probably tips the kid who parks his car when he goes out to dinner more than I make in a whole month. No doubt Warren Buffett would look at my salary and burst out laughing.
2) This is exactly how two rich, spoiled middle-school girls would act if they were rich, spoiled middle-aged men. I find it extremely hard to believe - make it impossible to believe, now that I think about it - that Boras simply couldn't contain himself and tossed out the announcement that A-Rod was opting out of his contract without discussing it with his client first.
The timing turned out to be bogus and seemed to anger a lot of people for whatever reason, so Boras did what any good agent would do - he fell on his sword for Rodriguez, who showed his gratitude by going to Hank Steinbrenner, hat in hand, and disavowing Scott Boras, thereby making Boras look impotent to all in major league baseball's ownership and management fraternity. Sounds a little bit like a Shakespeare play, with all the intrigue and backstabbing, doesn't it?
As horrified as all the other owners must have been to see the dollar amount of the contract A-Rod/W-Buff negotiated, there had to have been more than a few ear-to-ear smiles and maybe a few chuckles and even the occasional guffaw to see Boras, a man who seemingly lives to torture baseball executives, finally get the comeuppance none of the people on the management side ever seemed able to deliver.
But here's what I'm wondering. Does Boras get a commission? I assume he was still legally and contractually A-Rod's agent at the time the contract was negotiated; I haven't read or heard a word about Boras being fired, certainly not before the contract was negotiated and that seems like the sort of thing the Yankees, or even Rodriguez for that matter, would have been more than happy to leak to a friendly media source.
So if, in fact, Scott Boras was still legally A-Rod's representative at the time the contract was finalized, doesn't that make him entitled to his commission, which, unless I'm mistaken, is usually in the neighborhood of 15%? If so, and if you assume the most conservative amount Rodriguez will earn over the ten year lifespan of the contract, the commission would come to a little more than $41 million. That's quite the exclusive neighborhood, even for a guy like Boras.
On the other hand, if you're Alex Rodriguez and you were so angry at your agent's handling of your contract situation that you negotiated a deal all by your lonesome, why would you want to pay such a substantial amount of money to a guy who did nothing for you?
I have no idea what Scott Boras's net worth is, not even a clue, but I'm guessing a big number like 41 with so many zeroes at the end of it would be enough to make Boras give very serious consideration to all his legal options when it comes to deciding how to handle the snub from a guy who used to be very close to him, if A-Rod decides to freeze Boras out of his commission.
Lawsuit, with all the messy squabbling and finger-pointing those things entail? Who knows, but for a seasoned, hard-nosed negotiator like Scott Boras, it would seem to be the natural response to having his toes not just stepped on, but squashed, in front of all the other middle-school girls. I have to admit I'm curious to see how this all plays out. Stay tuned, I'm sure we won't have to wait long to find out.