If the contract is void he’s probably aiming to become a free agent.

None. Zero.
This is a totally different set of rules and happenings from the White, Lee, Seay, ect debacle.

Boras’ claim is that the Alvarez contract wasn’t signed on time. Even if he won that argument all that would mean is that Alvarez, and Hosmer as collateral damage, would simply become the same as Aaron Crow… he would just reenter the draft next June.
And, no matter the money demands, the odds of him falling to the Mets in next years draft would be super-minimal.
Plus, it isn’t like the Mets would take a run at him even though hes an NYC kid and would, maybe, help them reach out the Dominican or Puerto Rican (i forget which Alvarez is) kids in NYC because the Mets view keeping bonuses at slot as a supreme virtue.

And if that’s the case, presumably, his contract would be void too. If he can get Alvarez to become a FA, then he could get Hosmer to become a FA (not saying this will happen, just assuming that’s the goal).

I disagree (and not simply with your language). Even if one could decide whether to add a win in 2012 or 2011, the first choice is almost always to add it earlier, because in the real world, one lacks both prophecy and retrospect. If you can strengthen your team now, you do, and don’t wait for the possibility of maybe strengthening it somewhere down the line.

Second, I don’t understand your argument about a rebuilding team like Pittsburgh. In your own example, the decision is between making the Pirates better in 2011 or 2012 – 3 or 4 years down the line. How long of a rebuilding process are you expecting? Granted that the likelihood of the Pirates successfully rebuilding isn’t especially high, especially if they fail to sign Alvarez, but why should the team expect to only be competitive 4 years down the road and not 3? In 3 years, Nate McLouth will be 29, Steve Pearce 28, Andy Laroche will be 27, Jose Tabata 22, Craig Hansen 27, Ryan Doumit 30, Paul Malholm 29, and if they get Pedro Alvarez, he’ll be 25. Stupidly or not, these are the players the Pirates are betting a franchise on, so they better hope that by 2011 they’re in a position to compete. Furthermore, the period that a player is cost-controlled is more than 3 or 4 years – it’s 6. In 6 years, Laroche will be 30, Tabata 25, etc etc – surely by then you’d want a star of Alvarez’s caliber on your team, rebuilding now or not, right?

I will just add that in ANY FIELD an asset now is worth more than a similar asset a year from now. It is common sense

i think you can count the number of pro-owner phillies fans on one hand.

but watch the scene on youtube, it comes in at 9 minutes in, and tell me that you don’t see boras interacting with his client in the exact same way as levy.

http://www.youtube.com/v/SWsRsQXXJvo

is to get the Pirates to give Alvarez more money to make this problem go away. The way it looks right now there is zero chance of that happening and the odds are going down every day.

Any other possible outcome is basically a nuclear scenario where all the parties involved lose.

you’re wrong.

Jerry Maguire notwithstanding, agents aren’t there to coddle players. Literally the agent’s only job for draft picks is to maximize dollar value. They can’t help clients pick the best fit, because the players don’t get to decide who drafts them. The system is ridiculously stacked against talent, giving teams exclusive negotiating rights and leaving the athletes with about 25% of what they would get on the free agent market. Agents are there to handle the money and get the players the best deal they possibly can. When free agency comes around, you can talk about the agent having other duties to the player.

There are a lot of first round draft picks for whom their signing bonus is the only big money they ever see, and no matter how highly touted, every single draft pick has that possibility hanging over them. An agent who gets as much money as possible for his/her client is a good agent. Period.

and yeah, there’s still a good deal of animosity towards JD drew.

today’s fans are tomorrow’s players. shit, they have to come from somewhere, and if you’re not a fan, you’re probably not playing.

the pirates have a payroll for their major league team that was 48 million on opening day. they offered 6 to someone who had yet to play a single professional game. 6 was enough to be the 2nd highest bonus paid to anyone this year.

i understand why you might take the side of the player in negotiations like these, but they made a fair offer, the player accepted, and then something happened.

to make this big of a deal about this amount of money for this player, i’d have to think that boras is looking for 40% more than he was offered. i don’t see how this could possibly be worthwhile for alvarez, and the only way it’s worthwhile for boras, is if he gets alvarez 10+ million, which is about 67% more .

if this is about 200K, and about alvarez being the highest paid player in this draft class, ahead of buster posey, this is most definitely about boras, and it’s horrible and reprehensible.

and for hosmer to get wrapped up in this, there is no winning situation for boras.