Updated post:
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Pedro Alvarez, the Pirates first round draft pick in the 2008 draft, will not be reporting to the Pirates.
According to his agent, Scott Boras, Alvarez will not sign the contract he verbally agreed too.
Alvarez wants more than the $6,000,000 signing bonus he received. According to Team President Frank Coonelly, our Bucco’s have placed Alvarez on Major League Baseball’s Restricted List.
According the Major League Baseball’s rules on players who refuse to sign their contract, the team affected can place that player on the Restricted List until that player signs a contract that reflects the terms to which that player has agreed. That player, in this case Alvarez, cannot sign with, or play for, any other team.
What bothers me is the language “signs a contract reflecting the terms.” To me, this means Pedro can ask for, and receive, a significant pay-raise, even though he verbally agreed to a $6 million dollar signing bonus minutes before the August 15th deadline. There is no concrete language to define the “reflecting” part of the rules.
Further, Scott Boras is claiming the agreed contract was consummated after the August 15th deadline.
President Coonelly makes it very clear in his statement, which is available on the Pirates main website, that Boras is the major factor in this disappointing development, as he refused to engage in the negotiation process until shortly before midnight, and claims the agreement was only agreed upon once Pedro himself took over controls of the negotiations.
Luckily for the Pirates, The Office of the Commissioner has assured the Pirates that their contract with Alravez is indeed valid. President Coonelly concludes his statement saying that once the Boras claim is rejected, the team will sit down with the Alvarez family and try to get Pedro in black and gold, and occasionally red, as soon as possible.
This is indeed a disappointing development for our Pirates. While I expect Pedro to eventually sign with the Pirates, I see this as more press for Boras, who in the end will get his client more money.
Jeff
on Aug 27th, 2008
@ 2:30 pm:
why did jake leave?
TPenaRules
on Aug 27th, 2008
@ 3:17 pm:
I wouldn’t give Alvarez another dime. Someone needs to stand up to Boras, and it might as well be the Pirates. It’s not like they’re on the cusp of winning the World Series next year with Pedro.
Best case - Alvarez shows up and dumps Boras, who is suspended by baseball for a year (or life) for unethical conduct.
Worst case - the Pirates pick third and fifth next year and keep the $6 mil set aside for the comp pick. And Alvarez plays in the Frontier League until he’s 30.
erad67
on Aug 27th, 2008
@ 9:21 pm:
Jeff, for the last several days there has a been a post by Jake saying the reason he was leaving is because his son will have surgery and Jake will be spending most of his time attending to his son. I saw no other reason listed or implied.
erad67
on Aug 27th, 2008
@ 9:30 pm:
Reading the Pirates statement that was printed on the P-G’s site, they are just blasting Boras. They also clearly say that it was Boras in charge of the negotiations most of the time, which might invalidate Alvarez’s college elligibility if he choose to not sign and continue school.
So why does Alvarez think he is worth more than $6 million (one of the top 5 bonus’ given in the history of the game) when he has yet to play even minor league ball and still hasn’t fully recovered from his injury?
Chris P.
on Aug 28th, 2008
@ 3:49 pm:
This is crazy I dont even care what happens now cause even if this gets worked out and Pedro ends up in the Pirate Organization the relationship between Pedro and the Pirates will be sour the first chance he gets he will be out of here.