The Newport Beach Police Department landed themselves a doozy of a case on Monday night. Scott Boras, much-maligned baseball agent, had dinner at Bandera Restaurant and returned to a disturbing scene in the parking lot after his meal. His Land Rover bore signs of a brutal assault, with damage to the windshield and driver's side window.
Someone used an unknown hard, long object (that's what she said) during the assault, but police are short on other leads. If they hope to crack the case, they'll probably need to start working in shifts as there's no shortage of people with an ax to grind -- or window to break -- when it comes to Boras.
The players -- all clients of Scott Boras -- did not commit any wrongdoing, but, as early investors in the Stanford Financial Group, are believed to have received dividends from Stanford financed by investors that came after.
Ever since word started to circulate about how special Stephen Strasburg seemed to be, everyone wondered just how agent Scott Boras was going to bend the system to get the most for his client. Boras himself said that Strasburg is unique the day after the draft, but further proof came along Tuesday. Ben McDonald, the former No. 1 pick and phenom, told the Washington Post that he's talked to Boras -- his former agent -- about Strasburg.
"He just told me that he's got a special kid, reminds him of myself a little bit, and they're going to do something 'unusual.' But that's all he told me. I don't know what he's got cooked up."
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
Among the general population of sports fans, Scott Boras is a very unpopular individual. He's referred to as greedy, a snake, and "Bor-ass" (what a clever way to use his name in a derogatory fashion, huh?), among other things. Teams threaten to never deal with him again. Fans claim he's ruining baseball and is everything wrong with professional sports. And on and on -- just check out the reader comments on this Jeff Fletcher piece.
You know what I call him? The best agent in the history of sports.
Drafting Stephen Strasburg No. 1 overall in the MLB Draft was the easy part. Now the Nationals are staring at potentially (OK, likely) two-plus months of negotiations with his adviser, agent Scott Boras.
What are the rest of us left to do? Sit and wait. Gawk at the numbers and rhetoric likely to be thrown out from the Boras camp. Cross our fingers and hope Nationals president Stan Kasten -- one of the more hard-line pro-management executives in the game -- gets in on the fireworks.
That might be fun for a week, but two months? Nah. So the MLB FanHouse gang decided to spice things up the best way we knew how -- by gambling on it.
The rules are simple: Each member of the staff submitted a figure for the total guaranteed value, including bonus, of Strasburg's contract with the Nationals (presuming of course he signs); The Price Is Right rules are in effect. To the winner goes a heavy dose of pride and bragging rights. After the jump, you can see a visual representation of all of our guesses and can leave your own in the comments*.
Scott Boras' policy is not to negotiate through the media, but on Wednesday morning he began negotiating through the media.
A day after the Nationals made Boras client Stephen Strasburg the No. 1 pick in the draft, Boras laid out some of the reasons he believes that Strasburg is no ordinary draft pick, and thus should not be paid like one.
"I don't think you need me to say it, but obviously Stephen falls into that class of players really not associated with the inherent [risk] elements of the draft," Boras said Wednesday morning. "They are just players who happen to be available, whether that be through free agent or posting means. They just have extraordinary ability."
WASHINGTON – To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft.
"We are thrilled to select someone with the special talents Stephen possesses," acting Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said in a statement. "Those talents have long been on our radar, and Stephen's domination at San Diego State and vast experiences gained with Team USA last summer have done nothing to change our thougts about his abilities."
About an hour before the Nationals made their pick, heavy showers began to fall on Washington. Was it one last sign that one of the most downtrodden franchises in baseball is headed for a new dawn?
The MLB amateur draft is Tuesday -- you should totally join us for our live chat -- and there really isn't all that much drama in finding out who the first selection is going to be. If the Washington Nationals don't take San Diego State starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the entire baseball world will spin off of its axis and probably kill millions of people in the process. Or there will be a whole lot of "What Were The Nationals Thinking?" columns on Wednesday morning. Probably the latter, though the former would be a bigger story.
Anyway, the only real drama surrounding Strasburg and the Nats at this point is whether or not they'll be able to sign him. Scott Boras thinks that Strasburg is the greatest pitcher ever born unto the Earth since Jesus Christ was a young southpaw on the Nazareth Stars, and that Strasburg deserves somewhere around $50 million without ever throwing a pitch professionally.
With some three minutes left in a crucial match between Newcastle United and Fulham, the skies – sunny all afternoon, but suddenly and ominously dark now – opened up and literally began to rain on our American parade.
Hull City was drawing with Bolton Wanderers and the Magpies (aka Newcastle United) were down a goal and a Bassong (Sebastien after an all too harsh red card) to Fulham with the clock creeping toward 90 minutes (aka full time).
We were getting drenched and the realization was settling in: once again, Newcastle was staring at a spot in the relegation zone, teetering over the abyss of Championship football.
The Newport Beach Police Department landed themselves a doozy of a case on Monday night. Scott Boras, much-maligned baseball agent, had dinner at Bandera Restaurant and returned to a disturbing scene in the parking lot after his meal. His Land Rover bore signs of a brutal assault, with damage to the windshield and driver's side window. 
Federal authorities have asked seven Major League Baseball players -- 
Ever since word started to circulate about how special 
The truth can't be avoided any longer. It would be like denying 
Drafting 
WASHINGTON – To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Washington Nationals selected San Diego State pitcher 
The 
