Money For Nothing

If I ever get rich and famous (of course I mean even richer and even more famous than I am now) and I need to negociate a contract, I'm hiring one man and one man only: Scott Boras.

At least three times in the past three years, Boras has gotten his clients more money than they should have been able to get. Boras, somehow, convinces teams to bid against themselves in the persuit of his free agents.

Yesterday, Boras' client Greg Maddux signed a 3-year, $24 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. This despite the fact no other team offered Maddux a contract. The Cubs originally offered 2 years and $10 million. Boras flirted with the San Francisco Giants. The Cubs upped the offer to 2 years and $14 million. Boras was in New York to announce the Alex Rodrigues trade (more on "A-Rod" in a bit). Rumors flew that Maddux would sign with the Yankees. And guess what? The Cubs increased their offer to the final numbers.

So, without anyone else bidding for Greg Maddux's services, Scott Boras got $14 million more out of the Cubs. Brilliant.

As I said, this isn't the first time. When Alex Rodriguez signed with the Rangers, no other team in baseball bid more than about $16 million per season. Boras got the Rangers to give A-Rod almost $23 million per season. This offseason, Ivan Rodriguez signed with the Tigers after once again Boras got the team to raise their offer even though nobody else offered him a contract for more than two seasons. The result? Four years, $40 million. Ka-ching.

Years from now when the big radio stations come after me, begging me to work for them I'll direct them to my agent -- the frozen head of Scott Boras.