Boras Speaks

It's not terribly surprising that Scott Boras felt the need to address the Pittsburgh media after Frank Coonelly's comments the other day, and it's also not surprising that he didn't talk much about Pedro Alvarez. For all of the things people say about him, he's really good at his job and that's why guys with Pedro Alvarez sign on with him. Check his statement to Dejan today:

"One thing that fans should understand about the draft is that we've only asked for 11 players, in my 36 years of doing this, to get bonuses that have exceeded $4 million or $5 million. All 11 of those players are highly successful in Major League Baseball," Boras said. "And we've only asked for bonuses that exceed $7 million or $8 million a couple of times, and those players are Mark Teixeira, J.D. Drew, Stephen Drew and people of that nature who are all either stars or coming stars. I think it's important to have that context of the work we've done in the past. Our elite players have all turned out to be successful investments for their teams."

Boras traditionally has identified certain amateur players as "special" in advance of a draft. Teams get a fairly firm grasp of what that player will cost, and they know, as a result, whether to let the player drop lower in the order to a team willing -- or able -- to pay that much.

It's such a simple and direct statement that says so much without saying anything. Boras is saying, "Pedro Alvarez is going to cost you a lot of money, but only because he is very good. Either you will pay it and he will play for you, or you won't pay it and he will play well for someone else." People hate Boras, but no one does what he does as well as he does it.