A few weeks ago, with Alex Rodriguez's free agency fast approaching, The New Yorker profiled his agent, legendary sports attorney Scott Boras. Titled "The Extortionist," the piece focused on Boras's hard-charging negotiation tactics and player populism: Boras told the New Yorker's Ben McGrath that he views the game's talent as being in an asymmetrical brawl with baseball's front offices.
Regarding one client, McGrath writes, Boras had this to say:
"I kept on saying, ‘He’s a young man in a negotiation against a system, which requires him to sign a professional sports contract, which is governed by a collective-bargaining agreement. Why wouldn’t he need a lawyer?"
According to The New York Times, however, Boras's marquee client seems to have decided that he might be better off without one. After Boras's controversial World Series Game 4 announcement that Alex Rodridguez would become a free agent, thereby canceling a $21.3 million subsidy the Yankees would have received from the Texas Rangers, Rodriguez is apparently having second thoughts.
"Rodriguez seems to understand that his only way to stay a Yankee is to make up for the $21.3 million subsidy from the Texas Rangers that the Yankees lost when he opted out," the Times reports, suggesting the player may be willing to negotiate with the team -- sans agent.
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