Scott Boras Makes Me Laugh

If Announcer-Extraordinaire Brent Musberger were here he'd say:

"You are looking live at the campus of Northeastern University, where today's blog post matchup of Jason Varitek/Scott Boras vs. the Boston Red Sox is taking place."

My laptop is in the sick ward for the second time in two days, infected with some Spyware virus, which hasn't made for good blogging this week, or for completing Grad School homework. I actually had to write out by hand this weeks' homework assignment - talk about old school.

But getting to school a little early this evening allows me to write about one of the most ridiculous things I've read today (and shockingly it's not about Barack Obama).

From today's Boston Globe:

"(Scott) Boras is eyeing Yankee catcher Jorge Posada's four-year, $52.4 million deal as a benchmark for (Jason) Varitek."

I'm guessing that Boras didn't watch many Red Sox games this season, or he would have seen what all of Red Sox nation saw, an automatic out at the plate (let's preface that statement with the standard 'he was good with the pitching staff and good in the clubhouse' statement).

Let's see, in a season where Varitek's biggest accomplishment was tagging NESN's Heidi Watney, Tek batted .220 with 13 HR and 43 RBI. But give Tek credit for getting his numbers to change in the postseason. He batted .118 in the playoffs (4 hits in 34 at-bats). Tek wishes he could have batted .118 in the ALCS where he had 1 hit in 20 at-bats.

With a performance as significant such as this no wonder why Boras is looking for (key word here) No Less than a $3.1 million raise for next season. Who says America is in a recession when you have the balls to ask for a $3 million raise with such decreased performance.

As a point of reference, Posada got his four-year, $52.4 million deal after a season in which he hit .338 (highest average of his career by.57 points) with 20HR and 90RBI.

If I was Theo Epstein and Boras was sitting across from me and told me the negotiations for Tek start at 4 years-$52.4 million, the first thing I would do would be to uncontrollably laugh out loud for 5 minutes. After gathering myself, my response would be, "Are you f*cking serious?"
Then I would offer two years between $20-$25 million with Boras then proceeding to laugh at my offer.

I would then get up from the table and say, "Thanks for the memories Tek, good luck with your new team next year and good luck trying to find some sucker to give you a 4-year, $52.4 million deal".

This should be an interesting negotiation. My guess is Tek walks and the Red Sox trade a young pitcher (Clay Buchholz) for a catcher.