Does anyone know the last player the Sox signed that was a client of Scott Borass ? Aside from Crede or any other player that was not eligible for free agency ? Anybody know ?

It's a good question. I believe the problems with the White Sox arose from his representation of Jeff Weaver and Bobby Seay.

 

Here's a Boras client list. I can't see a single one that the Sox signed as a free agent. They obviously acquired Schoeneweis and Danks from other teams.

 

I wonder if Jordan Danks is also a Boras client... That's got to get in the way of KW's love for him.

 

I wonder if Crede was a Boras client when he signed. He was a 5th rounder, so it's not like he would have been able to get a huge bonus out of the Sox, but he could have gone to college instead of signing. Anyone know when Crede picked up Boras?

 

 

Jim Abbott was also apparently a Boras client, but he did sign with the White Sox. Oddly, he signed with them twice, on April 8, 1995, before the Sox drafted Bobby Seay and the Boras troubles started. Jim pitched pretty well for the Sox in 1995 (6-4 with a 3.36 ERA in 17 starts) and got flipped for McKay Christenson (remember him?), Bill Simas (BALK!!!), Jon Snyder (ace for a month), and Tim Fortugno. Baseball Reference says his contract was for $2.775 million that year...so pre-Bobby Seay, I'd say this is the most significant Boras client signing.

 

Abbott re-signed with the Sox in 1998 in late May after being out of baseball in 1997. He had to pitch in the minors before a late season call up. He made 5 starts, WON ALL FIVE OF THEM (!!), and had a league-average ERA in doing so. It's funny, I don't recall that stint with the Sox at all, but in late 1998 I was traveling in Europe.

 

So Jim Abbott - who was basically signed off the scrap heap in 1995 and 1998 - is the only Boras client that I can find whom the Sox signed as a free agent.

Thanks for the info. It certainly appears that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the Sox may sign a borass free agent such as Andruw Jones etc.

Could anyone explain for me how/when/why the problems with Borass actually began? I'm not really familiar, i just know their relationship with him now. Thanks

Could anyone explain for me how/when/why the problems with Borass actually began? I'm not really familiar, i just know their relationship with him now. Thanks

 

From what I recall, Boras used the Sox as a patsy in some way, shape or form during the ARod negotiations when he signed with Texas. Add to that the Weaver and ... damn, getting old sucks, I can't think of the other draftee's name ... situations and it's been an almost non-existant relationship.

The Ordonez situation with Boras was also a mess. Mags flipped his agent to Boras mid-season during his contract year IIRC. Don't recall if it was before or after he got hurt, but at least the press reports I remember have Mags basically saying that he wanted to stay with the Sox, then going overseas to have an experimental surgery on his injured leg without getting explicit approval from the Sox medical staff, continuing to say he wanted to stay with the Sox, then refusing to even allow the Sox to examine his post-surgery knee before the arbitration deadline, and thus leaving the Sox no choice but to let him walk without offering arbitration, because if he'd accepted we'd have been on the hook for $15 million for a guy who's health was probably more in question than Joe's is right now.

 

If nothing else, we probably could have used those draft picks that we didn't get from Detroit that year.

Thanks for the info. It certainly appears that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the Sox may sign a borass free agent such as Andruw Jones etc.

It really began when the White Sox drafted Bobby Seay in 1996. Boras used a loophole in the CBA to finagle free agency for Seay (Boras made huge $$ demands, and the Sox never tendered him a contract because of Boras's statements. But because the rules say that a draftee who is not tendered a contract by a certain date becomes a free agent, Seay became a free agent as a result of Boras's ruse).

 

The Sox also drafted Jeff Weaver in the 2nd round in 1997, but he also refused to sign with the Sox and went back into the draft, where he went 14th overall to the Tigers in 1998. I think that he went back to college for another year (Boras invented this particular form of leverage). That was pretty much how the Boras/White Sox bad blood was born.

 

In the A-Rod sweepstakes of 2000/01, Reinsdorf wanted to meet personally with A-Rod. Rumor has it that the Sox were ready to offer him a huge deal - $20 million per year (obviously not as huge as the one Hicks offered). Boras never allowed it and it went nowhere. I believe the public position at that point was that JR wanted to meet the guy he was putting such a big investment into to size him up, but it seems likely that he also was still pissed at Boras. I remember being excited about the prospect of ARod coming to the Sox because they were just coming off of the 2000 season and, quite frankly, the 2001 team with A-Rod would have been gangbusters.

Only other guy that hasn't been mentioned that has played for us is Schoenweis, but did we sign him or trade for him? Honestly can't remember.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just noticed Blackbetsy mentioned

Edited November 16, 200718 yr by bschmaranz

Only other guy that hasn't been mentioned that has played for us is Schoenweis, but did we sign him or trade for him? Honestly can't remember.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just noticed Blackbetsy mentioned

Schoenweis was traded to the Sox from the Halos in a deal involving Danny Glover. He then, IIRC, decided to get real angry about the fact that he wasn't starting, got a starting job, and got hurt. All while on steroids. It's a wonderful story.

So we might have landed A-Rod in 2001?

Isnt Uribe a Boras client?

Schoenweis was traded to the Sox from the Halos in a deal involving Danny Glover. He then, IIRC, decided to get real angry about the fact that he wasn't starting, got a starting job, and got hurt. All while on steroids. It's a wonderful story.

 

But he was getting too old for this s***.

 

I think you meant Gary Glover.

just wondering: What Alex Fernandez a Boras client when he left the Sox?

 

What about Wilson Alvarez when we traded him in 1997?

Isnt Uribe a Boras client?

He was, but he fired him after Uribe was traded to the Sox. He's now represented by Martin Arburua.