Charles Star suggests that despite perception Scott Boras was left on the outside looking in during Alex Rodriguez’ recent negotiations with the New York Yankees, the mega-agent is no sap.
Buried in a story about how Goldman Sachs avoided getting burned in the mortgage crisis was this paragraph:
Meanwhile, two Goldman managing directors acted as liaisons, helping bring Alex Rodriguez back to the New York Yankees baseball team, a classic Goldman deal that enhances the value of the firm™s 40 percent stake in the YES network – which it is trying to sell – while also pleasing Yankee fans. The symmetry was perfect: like the Yankees, Goldman, more than any other bank on Wall Street, is both hated and revered.
So now you tell me: did A-Rod approach people at Goldman Sachs on the advice of Warren Buffet? Or is it more likely that Goldman Sachs approached him, with an assist from Warren Buffet? Or asked A-Rod to give Warren Buffet a call.
I have a feeling that ARod may be making $30MM a year after all, with a little help from friends that aren™t the Yankees. Scott Boras is no dummy. He knows how important the sale of YES is to more than just the Yankees.
Star makes a salient point, one especially helpful to me, having presumed YES’ market value hinged more on the quality of Michael Kay’s “CenterStage” than actual Yankee wins and losses.
That’s all really swell. Maybe we should all go over to the Bill Simmons marathon chat and ask his opinion about all of this:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/special/billsimmons?event_id=18257
BTW, I submitted the following question (probably too soon; he’ll be much more desperate to answer ANY questions around quittin’ time):
‘If there was a contest between you and Joe Morgan on sucking the most, who would ‘win’?’