McCourt to Boras: Drop Dead

Define "audit" in this sense.

 

Au dit I lose all my fucking money?

 

What's being overlooked here...

Manny doesn't want to go to Spring Training, so he has little incentive to take the deal. Plus, this deal seems kind of strange with all of the deferred money. Why would Manny agree to that?

Boras will win this one. He usually does.

 

McCourt's gone out on a limb, he'll look like a fool if he increases his offer, since it's the best contract Manny's been offered. Now the ability of an owner to be a fool can be measured by the dollars in Boras' bank account, which appears to be significant.

If Manny want's money it's either the Dodgers' or a lesser amount from someone else.

 

Playing (sort of) hardball with Scott Boras is the first thing McCourt has done that has brought a genuine smile to this Dodger fan's face.

That guy held the team by the balls in the Fox years. Glad to see him getting some back.

 

As a Dodgers fan I would say that they have to pay Manny. What else do they have in their lineup without him? I love Matt Kemp and feel he is going to make a huge leap, but he is no Manny.

 

http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_11801907?nclick_check=1

A well-placed source with knowledge of the situation tells the Daily News that Manny Ramirez's agent Scott Boras asked the team to up his client's offer to $55 million. And that is where the whole thing broke down.

This source also said that it was Boras, not the Dodgers, who requested as far back as last fall that a portion of the money be deferred so the total value of the package could be greater.

At the end of Wednesday's meeting at Dodger Stadium, it was made clear to Boras that while there was no firm deadline, club officials expected to hear back from him in response to their two-year, $45 million offer and that they only wanted to hear one of two possible answers: yes or no.

Instead, Boras came back to them with a counter-proposal of increasing the offer to two years and $55 million, a deal that would carry an average annual value of $27.5 million — the exact same average annual value carried by the 10-year, $275 million contract of Alex Rodriguez, another Boras client.

Given that the Dodgers already believed they were offering $45 million more than any other team has offered Ramirez, there was no way they were going to increase their offer by another $10 million.

So the Dodgers pulled their offer, and there is presently no offer on the table. And the perception that the two sides have now agreed on the value of the deal — two years and $45 million — and are now only haggling on the amount of deferred money, is totally false, according to this source.

The negotiations are presently at square one, meaning no offer on the table. The Dodgers are still interested in signing Ramirez and still interested in negotiating. But it doesn't look like this is headed for a quick resolution.

 

I'm going to say within the next couple of days the two-year, $45 million deal is accepted. Just my feeling.

 

Except that offer is no longer on the table.

 

Ding ding ding. This is a guy who is so dumb he's probably more concerned with how many workouts he can miss and how much noise he can make when he gets there than how his $45 million is structured.

I might be naive, but I think we have finally, finally hit the top of the curve on salaries. Everyone has always asked, "what will it take?" And the answer has always been that it will take owners -- all of them -- refusing to pay. As long as there is one sucker, they are all suckers.

Not that I don't think Manny will get paid this time around, because he will, but look at all the veterans with no job right now. Statisticians are finally convincing the owners that the performance difference between wily veterans and young guys 1) doesn't exist; and/or 2) can't justify the 1,000 percent difference in the salary. And the economic crisis is giving the owners an argument to not spend the money while being criticized less.

I might be proven wrong later, but I honestly believe this is the tipping point.

 

In your mind, AB, if this is the case, is this a good thing for the game?

 

It can't not be. No one player needs or deserves $25 million a year. It's an economy badly in need of correction. There will be some unfairnesses in the process -- like owners cutting payroll who have crazy broadcast deals in place, and players whose long-term contracts won't go away -- but in theory the correction will reach the fans.