Wednesday, January 6, 2010

How the Holliday negotiations likely went


Boras: Hey guys, no more playing around here, I need $140 million for 7 years and that is my absolute bottom line here.

Cards: Sorry, 7 years at $105 million is the best we can do.

Boras: I might be able to go $135 million but I would need to make a call and I don't know if he would go for it.

Cards: Sorry. We can go $105 million.

Boras: Vernon Wells got $126 million years ago. Holliday is much better than him. I need a LOT more than that.

Cards: We never signed Wells. Go talk to the Blue Jays about that. Look, Pujols is up soon and we will never pay anybody but Pujols more than $125 million. We will offer you $124,900,000 and that is it. Take it or leave it.

Boras: $135 million but I will have to make a call. Let's close this deal.

Cards: Read our lips! $124,900,000. If you don't like it, you can go talk to the Pirates or one of your mystery teams.

Boras: Guys, help me out. I can't go $124,900,000 because it will make it look like I tried for $125 million and couldn't get it.

Cards: Oh, well.

Boras: Lets close it at $120 million then.

Cards: Done deal. My people will send your people the paperwork. You can tell the camera people outside how you worked us over.

Boras: You owe me one.

6 comments:

Orioles Magic said...

Don't forget that the Orioles were a mystery team even though we already have 5 above average oufielders!

Contrary Guy said...

I love the whole "mystery team" thing. Nobody knows what goes on in negotiations obviously but I sure hope teams slam the door on him when he starts up with that.

William J. Tasker said...

Mystery team. heh. Good post. I think the Cardinals seriously overpaid. But at least Pujols will get something to hit for a few years.

Contrary Guy said...

Agreed on the overpayment though I know that Pujols needs protection.

When did Holliday get so "good"?

Mark Aubrey said...

I'd love to be a fly on the walls of a negotiation meeting room.

Well, while the negotiations were actually going on and no one had a fly swatter. And if I could understand English and I didn't have, like 400 eye prisms.

Okay, I'd like to sit at the table as a silent observer. How's that?

Contrary Guy said...

No doubt. It would be interesting in seeing Boras' negotiating style and how much, if at all, it differs from his public persona. Flies though are just too low on the evolutionary scale to perceive much other than a fly swatter or delicious piece of crud on the wall.

While I don't really advertise it because it is usually irrelevent, you may have surmised through past posts and/or other communications that one of the roles I have with my company is that of "negotiator".

On a "take your kids to work" day, we did entertain the thought of allowing an interested child (not mine) to sit in on one. In the end, we decided that confidentiality protocols ruled it out though if it were up to me, I would have made an exception for a 10 year old. I wouldn't have allowed him to pass me a note though.