Say Ned Colletti was having a birthday party, and he invited Scott Boras. And Boras brought the biggest, shiniest, most-nicely-wrapped present out of everybody. This present was so sweet looking, ALL of the other party guests couldn’t wait to see what was inside. The evening drags on, and everyone keeps eye-ing the present, wondering when they’re finally going to get to see what it is. Now its 9 o’clock, and it’s time for the birthday cake and presents…
Boras brings up the present. Everyone is SO excited. They can’t wait to see it, it’s FINALLY going to happen.
But right when Colletti is about to tear in, Boras grabs it back. He says “This is the piece of cake that you’re offering when I brought this great present?? There were other birthday parties I could’ve gone to tonight, but I came to yours. Now I better see some more cake on this plate, or I’m taking my great gift elsewhere.”
Colletti reads the room. He sees his guests imploring faces. They really want to see what’s in the box. HE really wants to see what’s in the box. He knows he probably isn’t going to get a better gift from anyone else, but he also thinks it’s probably too late for Boras to get to another party. So he cuts off another slice and puts it on Boras’s plate. Nothing. He tries giving Boras a totally different piece of cake–the piece that has the flower on it! Still, no present.
Now it’s getting late. It’s almost midnight, and he sees his guests glancing at the present longingly, but they’re also looking at their watches, and asking if their coats are hanging in the hall closet…
……….
After the news broke that Manny has rejected the latest Dodgers offer (it is now being reported that Boras just wanted to renegotiate the amount of deferred money involved in the contract), things seem to be getting a bit dice-y in Manny-land…
A strange press release from Dodgers owner Frank McCourt followed last night/this morning:
The Dodgers today received a letter from Scott Boras, the agent for Manny Ramirez, rejecting the offer that the club made yesterday. This rejection is the fourth by the agent in the club’s attempts to sign Manny. We love Manny Ramirez. And we want Manny back, but we feel we are negotiating against ourselves.
McCourt then referenced Boras’ statement from November when the agent announced that he was ready to accept “serious offers” for Manny’s services.
When his agent finds those ‘serious offers’ from other clubs, we’ll be happy to restart the negotiations. Even with an economy that has substantially eroded since last November, out of respect for Manny and his talents, we actually improved our offer. So now, we start from scratch.
I can’t imagine how frustrating this situation is for the Dodgers. Boras has gotten (as far as we know) only four offers for Manny. All of them are from the same team. All of them are for more than market value. And they’ve all been rejected. I understand where McCourt is coming from.
But…it seems to me that this press release has driven the Dodgers over the edge that separates “business” from “personal.” Calling someone out through the press in a huge situation like this, especially if you feel like you have all the leverage, has got to be immensely satisfying in the short term. After Manny said that line about “gas prices are up, and so is mine” when the Dodgers lost the NLCS, McCourt or Colletti must be DYING to tell a reporter that “gas prices are down, and so is Manny’s.” But if the Dodgers really want to sign Manny, it’s not going to happen because of statements like the one from McCourt. It’s like indulging in a “Why not?!?! Because I said so!! Why not?!?! Because I said so!!! Why not?!?! Because I said so!!!” argument with a kid…they’re not going to be the one to blink first.
On the other hand, maybe McCourt is trying to sour the Dodgers fans against Manny, since that is really the only extra leverage that Boras and Manny have in the Dodgers negotiations. As evidenced by Nerdzah Ball Soup’s earlier entry, fans seemed to be clamoring for the Dodgers to back up the Brinks Truck for the guy, despite the lack of other interested teams. If Dodgers fans turn on Manny, I don’t know where he’ll end up…part of the reason that overpaying him was somewhat justifiable is due to all of the extra ticket sales, merchandising, etc. If that’s not part of the deal, the price has got to come way down.
So we’re entering a strange space with this whole thing. Right now there’s a poll on the LA Times website that asks fans what they think about the current Manny situation. As of now, almost 54% of the 4200 responses wanted the Dodgers to “Pull the offer and forget about signing Manny. Their offer was more than fair.”
Tags: boras, cake, colletti, contract, la times, Manny, mccourt, party metaphor
(4.89 out of 5)
The tides may indeed be turning here in the city of angels. Yesterday several people at work asked me why Manny kept rejecting the Dodgers’ offers. I hadn’t heard any of this for the past few months, but I think people are shifting their positions. Whether its the economy or something else, my latest polls indicate that LA has just about had it with this nonsense.
Incidentally, the only good thing about this mess is that it gave me a chance to explain to uninformed Dodgers fans that this is not uncommon behavior for Manny. I enjoyed retelling stories about Manny’s unique state of mind, including gems like: peeing in the scoreboard, selling his grill on ebay, forgetting which knee he hurt, and all the fun times he tried to get traded.
I agree that Boras is probably steering this ship and Manny may not even be aware that he’s not signed yet, but he better get his head out of his ass long enough to save his contract and any goodwill he has left with this city.
Not sure I like this metaphor NYC. Boras is employed by the present. The present is going to pay Boras in cake, but really the present is going to eat most of it himself. Both the present and Boras are happiest when the cake is as large and tasty as possible. Boras has no incentive to play nice, and by being the villain, people just remember how great the present is afterward, and not the jerk who brought it.
That said, I think Boras has overplayed his hand. The Dodgers know that Manny has nowhere else to go, and are completely doing the right thing. They do have a downside though. Manny puts to the Dodgers over the top in the NL West; without him, it’s wide open. I imagine that Manny pays for his whole contract if he can get the Dodgers back into the playoffs.
Is it me or is Boras manically obsessed with “winning” every negotiation? It’s probably not even about the money anymore. Furthermore, it seems like he can become incredibly tone-deaf when he gets this greedy, like when he leaked the A-Rod opt-out news during the World Series. I don’t know if anyone’s going to make him pay for his mistakes, but I don’t entirely blame McCourt for wanting to start now.