(Here are some more answers to questions sent along by Rob Bradford, mostly in regards to the Mark Teixeira situation … mostly.)

Bradford: What examples has he seen of an agent steering a client towards a negative outcome?

Me: Define negative? I’ve seen on rare occasion an agent gamble with a players future and cost them years and millions that never come around again, like Jody Reed. But more times than not you can’t blame the agents, post-draft anyway. We’re grown men who need to be accountable for all things happening to and around us. My biggest problem and one of the main reasons I did not want an agent was due to the fact that every time an agent opens his mouth the public hears the player, whether the player said it or not.

Bradford: How important is it for a free agent when the front office/ownership group to flies out to meet face to face?

Me: To me it’s HUGE, HUGE! The three day period of negotiation that went on
in 2003 would never have worked had I not been face to face with them. 

Bradford: Having faced Mark Teixeira (1 for 12), what are his strengths and
weaknesses?

Schilling: Tex never bothered me. I think the main reason was that he was, or I think he is, a guy that studies pitchers and numbers. At least I believe that because I had reports and watched video of a guy  that was patient and very strike zone aware. Against me he chased my split over 90 percent of the time. Very unlike him but I think he expected me, walking as few hitters as I did, to throw more balls in the strike zone than I did. I think he was more aggressive vs. me than normal and I threw some decent
splits to him as well. 

Bradford: How close is Teixeira to being the kind of middle of the order presence Manny was?

Me: I don’t think he is, I don’t think anyone really is. Locked in and wanting to play no one hits like Manny with that combo of patience, awareness and power.

Bradford: When referencing this potential move, some have cited the Yankees decision to go with high-priced talent in the early 2000’s instead of the “heart and soul” guys that were on the championship teams. Is that kind of chemistry/clubhouse influence overstated?

Me: No, no and a million more times no. The easiest way to figure that out is to play fantasy baseball right? Take the 2004 Yankees on paper, play them against ANY other 2004 team and play a 5×5 league. How do they fare? I’d expect REAL well and pretty dominating? There is so much that happens outside the 3-4 hours of games each day
that impact and influence teams in a way no statistician or ‘expert’ can ever hope to define or quantify. It affects wins and losses, it affects clubs state of mind, it affects everything.

Bradford: How awkward is it when a team goes into spring training with a positional overlap, knowing somebody has to be traded, as might be the case with the Red Sox?

Me: VERY awkward and in my opinion underappreciated by teams. It’s the ultimate exposure to this game as a business. I laugh that people continue to call baseball a ‘game’ that we play. As soon as some guy pulls in $15 million a year playing Monopoly I’ll conceded. Until then understand this is a $6+ billion a year business. Someone in spring training limbo is a tough thing to be around but like most other situations it really depends on the player and how he and his teammates handle it.

Oh and one more thing. I really loathe to even mention CHB in anything anymore, due to his irrelevance on the Boston sports scene but I suck at keeping my tongue in places like this. CHB wrote the other day (thanks to the person forwarding this as it’s the first thing I’ve read that he’s written in five months)

“Best part of Curt Schilling’s blog on the WEEI website? Schill claims, ’I don’t get edited.’ Could he be more of a diva? Here’s a clue for the Big Lug – Ernest Hemingway had an editor. And Schill needs an editor more than I need a pitching coach.”

By edited I meant content Curly, because Lord knows I sure as hell need help with anything I write. But your last statement is laughable, because I think — and correct me if I am wrong — I am doing what you do for a living right?

I am pretty sure you’ve never stepped on a mound, well a field of any kind for that matter, and competed for something that truly mattered to people not on the field? So I am comfortable saying I am a lot closer to being able to do what you do, than you are able to do what I did …

Keep spewing the vitriol chief. It seems to be the only bite your writing has any more.

No one should be shocked, at all. Theo has, at least in my opinion, operated within parameters set by he and the club, and stuck to them. Letting emotion enter into this stuff will see you spend for spending sake. Don’t get me wrong, Mark Teixera is a damn good player, but let’s look at this realistically.

Over the next 2 years: 

.279 Avg; .343 OBP; .467 Slug; 810 OPS; 46 HR; 196 RBIs; 166 Ks; 114 BB(A) 

.290 Avg; .378 OBP; .541 Slug; 919 OPS; 72 HR; 242 RBIs; 248 Ks; 158 BB(B)

Based purely on career averages you get the above numbers. Tex’s power numbers will go up if the new NY stadium has the same dimensions. I think it’s safe to say those power numbers would go down a bit in Fenway. Tex is 28, you are paying him through his Age 36 season. Mike is 34, being paid through age 36 as well. Both are Gold Glove players. 

So you could ask the following question: Would you pay a player with this stat line, 10 million dollars, and guarantee him a no trade – 285 avg; 360 OBP; 500 Slg; 860 OPS; 26 HR; 46 RBI; 82 Ks; 44 BB?

It’s not that easy I know, you need to factor in parks, and lineups and much more but on pure stats that’s the bonus numbers a $10 mm bump in one spot on your roster buys you.

Now, I would agree Tex’s power numbers would go down at Fenway. But I would also make the case that these power numbers can be made up by Ortiz alone, as long as he’s healthy. Yes, he needs protection and this lineup is not going to give him the protection he once had, but he can do it and it’s not a stretch.

Personally I am glad Youk is staying at first and Mike is at third. Adding Mark’s bat is absolutely going to make the Yankees tougher. 

Haven’t we been down this road before? That’s not to say this Yankees team can’t win 110 games, it can. But so much has to happen for that to work out.

Please stop with the greedy bum statements too, all of you screaming that would be saying nothing if the Sox had ante’d up. I’m surprised but I don’t think nearly as much as most others. Why? Because not once, never, did you hear ANYTHING from Mark in this entire charade. This is how Scott Boras works, and his clients love him for it. Mark never said he wanted Boston, sources ‘close to negotiations’ did. That and a handful of nickels will get you a quarter.

Stop being surprised in these deals when you hear comments from EVERYONE but the players. Until the player speaks I am comfortable telling you more than 90 percent of what you hear is what teams WANT you to hear through their media ’sources’. Half of these folks get told things from teams because teams
WANT that message in particular, out there.

Jason Bay is going to be here a full year. That’s 30+ HR, 100+ RBI and a near 900 OPS right there. That helps. He’s a very good defensive player and a very good base runner, not to mention a fantastic club house
presence. 

Tex would certainly have made this lineup more potent, but scoring the most runs isn’t the solution. You need run prevention and the Sox have that too. Now so do the Yanks, but are you believing that the Yanks just put out $400 mm-plus in contracts and all three players will be worth the deals? When has that ever happened ACROSS a free agent class much less one team.

I think the Steinbrenners, coming off a miserable last season in Yankee Stadium, are dead set on opening the new stadium with a World Series and they don’t care how much it costs. Good for them. You can bitch all you want about the Yankees and greed but they spend money in a sincere effort to win it all, every year. What fan wouldn’t want their teams to do that.

Theo’s not done, at least in my opinion. The club is stocked with VERY tradable young talent and you can bet with this economy teams will be hell bent on unloading supreme talent where possible. Teams other than the NY’s, Anaheim’s and Boston’s.

The AL East just got tougher, if that’s possible, and I don’t think the counter punches are done being thrown.

Answering a few questions from our site editor, Rob Bradford, regarding the world of agents …

Bradford: When you hear about the kind of negotiations Mark Teixeira is going through, what stands out?

Me: The mass of misinformation everyone works off of. So little of the facts are ever really that. It’s the ultimate form of second-hand information and in many cases you get people making ‘educated’ guesses, figuring if they’re wrong, so what, but if they are right they ‘broke’ the story.

Bradford: How much interaction with Scott Boras have you had, if any? Did you ever contemplate joining forces with him?

Me: Almost none other than going up against him on a talk show in Philly after the JD Drew draft. I’ve thought about it when thinking about next season. Bottom line is if you want to scrap every penny you can from the bottom of the barrel, leave nothing on the table, he’s your guy. That being said I’ve spoken at length with Jason about him, a guy I have a ton of respect for, and Jason considers him a very close friend, so that means something to me.

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