The Cubs sent Kris Bryant to the minors today, and Scott Boras reacted. Craig Calcaterra has a great analysis of the reaction:
Lawyers are taught another thing too. When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law is on your side, argue the law. When neither is on your side, pound your fist on the table. Boras isn’t a fist-pounder, but he really has nothing better to do regarding Kris Bryant than pound his fist. And I bet he lectures anyone within earshot in the most hilariously stilted-language possible when he’s trying hard not to look like he’s pounding his fist.
If baseball doesn’t want this to happen, then simply make an appearance in a season (before Sept. 1st) a season. There will be no super twos, and no reason to keep anyone down for a specific number of days. Teams can call a player up whenever he is ready to play in the majors, or keep him down for the season if they don’t want to start the clock. Don’t give GMs a reason to game the system, because they will game it in ways you don’t like.
Yeah, I can’t fault the Cubs here. The time to deal with this is in the next CBA.
We Cub fans have waited 106 years.
We can wait till April 17 or whatever.
Baseball is a collective of 30 teams. Whats good for the teams is good for baseball. Delaying a players free agency by a year saves money.
MLBPA meanwhile sits on its hands as players lose ground relative to MLB revenues . From revenue sharing, to luxury tax thresholds staying flat, to tying LT to revenue sharing rebates, to taxing free agents with the QO system, to MLB teams profiting from the testing program, to agreeing to low minor league salaries and defacto caps on draft pick bonuses, etc.
Time to bring service time to the negotiating table, which is Boras main objective. Keep the same system but shorten it from 6 years to 5 years, or scrap the current system and perhaps try something new like age based free agency, etc