Late Innings

The Scott Boras Corporation comments on the Steven Strasburg situation:

The Nationals do indeed have history on their side. The precedent has long been set that $10 million is the ceiling. The leverage is very limited for these amateur players since no other league is comparable. If college players don’t sign, they can return to college and hope for better a year later, or they can go to an independent league. None in the past have tried playing overseas, or even using that as leverage, but nothing can be ruled out in this once-in-a-generation case.

Boras apparently caught wind of the stories circulating last week regarding Strasburg, and apparently likes what people are speculating. For him to snag 50MM for an amateur client is a win win for the mighty agent. This is clearly an aggressive piece from Boras. Boras fires this warning shot about Strasburg as follows:

A couple top collegians represented by Boras have declined to sign after being selected and offered million-dollar bonuses, including J.D. Drew and Jason Varitek. But only rare players such as those two have the fortitude to try it.

Boras essentially states that Strasburg will break all sorts of records with his signing. He’s going to get his money, good economy or bad. Or as he puts it in closing:

The Nationals have the money (Ted Lerner has been estimated to be baseball’s richest owner at about $4.5 billion, though in this falling economy it’s difficult to gauge anyone’s true net worth), and they certainly have the need. But they also have history on their side. That history says amateur players get $10 million tops. Strasburg should beat that figure. But the question is by how much.

Is it just me, or is having Scott Boras in charge of MLB rumors considered a conflict of interest?