Scott Boras Rips the Ricketts Family and Other Bullets

scott borasDid you miss the latest episode of the BN Podcast yesterday, what with the deluge of rumors? If so, check it out.

  • Scott Boras is angry that the Chicago Cubs aren’t spending a lot of money these days on free agents. Imagine that. He took to the media yesterday, as he has in the past, to rip the Ricketts Family for failing to spend like a big market during the current rebuild. Among his comments, which you can see here and here, Boras questioned why a family-owned team in a major market isn’t acting like a major market, and said that fans don’t come out to see cement. They come to see players, Boras said. He added: “I don’t know what the plans are for the family. I don’t know what their scaling is. I only know that their general managers tell us that their budget only allows them to do certain things.” The whole thing makes me shrug. There’s nothing there that we didn’t already know, and nothing there that doesn’t square with The Plan. Boras has a job to do, and it’s to get as much money as possible for his clients, and it’s to get his name and face out there in the act of “fighting for his clients.” That’s really all this is. It’s not as if his grousing is going to suddenly push the Ricketts Family to spend more out of pocket, or push fans to rail against ownership (unless they were already disposed to do so). If payroll isn’t increasing by the time the Cubs’ young talent is emerging on the roster – i.e., within a season or two – then it will be fair to grumble.
  • The Cubs have a couple AA All-Stars, according to MiLB and Topps, and they might not be the guys you think: it’s infielders Arismendy Alcantara and Christian Villanueva. Presumably, Javier Baez didn’t have enough time in AA to qualify. And, if you’re wondering how Kyle Hendricks didn’t make the cut, it’s because only one pitcher was selected. And it was Archie Bradley, so no hard feelings.
  • Sahadev Sharma takes a deep look at the man of the hour, Kris Bryant. So many good quotes. Bryant is a guy who is focused on the process, not the results, which is a mature and useful mindset for the long-term. Give it a read.
  • That didn’t last long. Not an hour after writing yesterday about Mark DeRosa’s retirement and the possibility then that he could be available to join the WGN radio booth, he was hired by MLB Network. He apparently also said in a later interview that he was never considering the WGN radio gig. Whatever, man. We didn’t want you anyway. *muffled sobs*
  • Jed Hoyer compliments managerial interviewee Dave Martinez.
  • The New York Post ranks MLB’s best “GMs” (it’s not actually GMs, it’s top baseball executives – so Theo Epstein qualified, but Jed Hoyer did not), and Epstein came in at number seven. He was behind, in ascending order: Brian Cashman, John Mozeliak, Dave Dombrowski, Jon Daniels, Billy Beane, and Andrew Friedman.
  • Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer won the Cy Young awards this year, in what turned out to be a laugher in each case. You can see the NL votes here, and the AL votes here. Yu Darvish and Adam Wainwright were the runners up.
  • Derrek Lee is coming to the Cubs Convention this year.
  • A profile on Wes Darvill, the least-discussed Cubs player in the AFL.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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