Alex Will Get Paid; The Greed of Scott Boras

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“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.

Greed is right.

Greed works.

Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.” - Gordon Gekko, Wall Street (1987)

Before I go any further, everyone say a quick hello to Beatlefnatic, a loyal and great Oriole fan who will be expressing her views on baseball and other topics. Visit her first post on the blog titled, “ALCS and More”.

Since there’s no baseball on the air, I decided to read the news while I was eating dinner and it looks like in light of the Yankees being disposed of in the ALDS, Scott Boras has decided to give us an update on Alex Rodriguez and his contract situation.

Well, if Rodriguez wants to leave New York or perhaps re-sign with them for an even bigger payday, Scott Boras has his own ideas.

And, boy, they are lofty. Alex doesn’t want to talk about his contract right now and has reiterated he wants to stay in the Big Apple; however, Boras has no problem expressing his views if his big fish wants to be freed.

It more or less looks like he has made his intentions known.

Here are some of his thoughts:

"The right of free agency has probably never been more valuable to a single player than it would be to someone like Alex Rodriguez," Boras said during a phone interview with 1050 ESPN New York conducted prior to the Yankees ALDS loss to the Indians. "The reason being is that he is a stature player, a durable player, an iconic player and he has had a historic season. Again, these are decisions that Alex has to make. He is certainly happy in New York and has enjoyed playing there."

also…

“He said he will tell prospective bidders that Rodriguez could play until he is 45, which will allow him to not only become baseball's all-time home run king, but also the all-time hits leader. If those accomplishments are within reach, Boras said he will argue that Rodriguez will be worth somewhere between a half-billion and a billion dollars over a decade to a team's regional sports network.”

also…

"One of the other things that Alex has that some of the other things that Alex has that few players have is he has network value," Boras said. "That means for a regional sports network he has an impact on in that may allow that regional sports network to increase by a half-a-billion to a billion dollars over a 10-year period because of the ratings increase that he will bring. His fan base will subscribe to that network to watch him play and they will sell more advertising. This has certainly been evidenced in New York."

Sorry, I don’t subscribe to that. No one player is worth that much money. Baseball is not like the NBA which is built on star names; it’s built on regionalism, the team concept and familiarity. Throughout modern sports history, there are few names that transcend sports and they are Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

It is nice Boras wants to ensure a huge payday for his client; however, no one in sports is worth the money that he wants for Alex Rodriguez unless they are solely in an individual sport.

I see it nothing more than simple greed.

Lord help us if someone is stupid enough to pay the money Boras wants for Rodriguez.