You used to own the draft rights to a player for a year. Now its just till August 15th.

J.D. Drew simply didn’t sign with the Phillies in ’97, and was drafted by St. Louis in ’98 and signed with the Cardinals. He was not a free agent and would have had to sit out a second year to become one. Luke Hochevar did the same thing two years ago and was also redrafted.

Seay and White were declared FA because neither received a formal contract offer by the deadline, not because they didn’t sign. Perhaps Boras is trying to claim the Pirates never made a formal, written offer thus making Alvarez a FA. Perhaps he’s just trying to get the verbal “agreement” voided so Alvarez can sit out and see what happens next June. I don’t know.

As for the NCAA, the rules are there but the hypocrites who run the organization have alreays turned a blind eye to baseball agents even through they are more of a scourge in baseball than either basketball or football.

The NFL is going for a rookie wage scale in its next CBA with the players and you can count on MLB trying to negotiate the same thing when their time comes. Roo much money in both sports is being wasted on guys who never contribute anything close to what they receive up front.

Maybe I’ll check it out, but I still have to watch the new Prison Break! Yikes.

But not until after I watch the new episode of CSI: Pavano.

Depends on what the “win” is. The arbitrator could rule that Alvarez’s rights still belong to the Pirates and he has a time induced window to negotiate a deal with them.

I think its very unlikely the arbitrator would make Alvarez free to sign with anybody.

The best case scenario for Boras would be that the kid would have to go back into the draft next year. I don’t know how that’s good for anybody.

Its certainly not good for Alvarez because there is no guarantee he gets 6 million dollars next year.

Plus, there is no guarantee he can return to Vanderbilt next season. I’m sure the NCAA would like to know how he paid for his new wheels and that would probably kill his eligibility.

I don’t believe he’s registered for classes at Vanderbilt this semester. I’m going to be in Nashville on business this weekend. I will ask around to see if that’s true.

Scott has 5 of the Top Ten picks for the draft in 2009. His plan is clear…..He wants to blow up the draft.

What’s unclear is if he has grounds to do so. Alvarez is the case that will determine that.

You have two kinds of Scott Boras clients. True believers, like Mark Teixiera and, apparently Alvarez. Guys who would walk through fire if Boras told them to do so.

The other kind of Boras client is a guy like Varitek, who tells him, “get me the best deal you can but, I decide where I play”.

Those guys make up about 15-20% of his client list.

Because pitch low and inside to a player like Pedroia is considered head hunting.