Deal With the Devil

You knew Scott Boras wouldn’t stop until he got his filthy, grimy hands on a New York Met, right?

Francisco Rodriguez has enlisted the help of Scott Boras to represent him, which seems like a perfectly reasonable excuse to dust off this old picture of Scott Boras as Beelzebub. It’s almost a perfect marriage, the guy who punched out his father in law teaming up with the guy who gut punches America on a daily basis. It’s like baseball’s Legion of Doom.

In all seriousness, we know what this is about. This is about Boras being able to negotiate a deal with a club that the Mets trade Frankie to in the middle of the season so said club wouldn’t be stuck paying a closer a $17.5 million contract for the 2012 season. It could also be about keeping him away from a team who has designs on using him as an 8th inning guy, depending on which teams are on Frankie’s 10 team no-trade list. The good part is that the list was put together at the beginning of the contract and cannot be changed from year-to-year. This could be a blessing. For example, Texas might have a need for an eighth inning guy. The Rangers may not have been on the list in 2009. If Frankie could have changed the list from season to season, maybe they’re there now as Frankie tries to block trades to teams that could kill the option.

If the Rangers aren’t on the list, what could Boras do if the Mets decide to deal with Texas? Not a whole lot. Now most likely the deal would be with another team that needs a closer. (It’s not going to be with the Yankees … think about it, if Mariano Rivera didn’t want to sit next to him at the All-Star game, you think Brian Cashman would piss him off by sending Frankie to the same bullpen?) At which point Boras springs into action and negotiates a deal with that team. How Boras makes the actual deal harder, I’m not sure. The deal is going to be the deal. So this idea that Frankie hiring Boras makes life harder for the Mets is something I don’t see, unless other teams decide that a negotiation with Scott Boras isn’t worth two months to three years of Frankie as a closer.

Of course, we have to know which teams are on the list, which we don’t. But that would make the conversation too much fun, right? Can I blame Boras for that? I know it’s not his fault but I like blaming Boras for things like world famine, corrupt media, and Jersey Shore.

And what to make of Paul Kinzer, who now has some free time with one less client. Hey, I hear Lenny Dykstra needs a new “Twitter Producer“.