On the cusp of a possible major baseball labor dispute, influential players’ agent Scott Boras has criticized the system now in place, calling the rebuilding process that many teams resort to every year “competitive cancer”.
Since only 10 teams advance to the playoffs, several clubs manage to determine quickly in the season that they are not real contenders. With signing bonuses capped according to the rank of players drafted, it therefore becomes advantageous, at this time, to part with good players to aim for the last places in the standings.
Thus, teams like the Atlanta Braves – led by Quebec general manager Alex Anthopoulos – can acquire impact players at a fraction of their normal value. The latter thus became, a few weeks after the transaction deadline, the champions of the World Series.
“The rules allow them to be a team that plays for under .500 on August 1, add five players from teams that had given up at a very small price and change their entire squad,” Boras said. at a press conference on Wednesday, according to comments reported by the ESPN network. We now understand that fans don’t know who the real team is until the trade deadline. ”
“It’s the Easter bunny delivering rotten eggs,” he said.
Incentive down
Boras did not stop there, directly questioning the spending cap for drafted players.
“It created the incentive for a race to the bottom, as we now have half of the major league teams at some point in the season that aren’t competitive and swap their players. It makes the season very different from what it’s supposed to be. ”
This exit of Boras does not bode well in the negotiations to come between the major leagues and the Association of the players. With the last collective agreement expiring on December 1, baseball could be rocked by a ninth labor dispute.
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