As theater goes, frankly, the get-together that ends with this morning's Rule 5 draft has been pretty much a dud. The Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks completed a big three-cornered trade yesterday. The Orioles dealt for Kevin Millwood. The Mariners signed free-agent Chone Figgins Tuesday. As headline news goes, that was pretty much it. And neither transaction budged the needle on the Richter scale back in Philadelphia. It's impossible to recall a winter meetings this dull.
Let's just say that the Phillies aren't going to sell many tickets on the basis of the signing of pinch-hitter Ross Gload late Tuesday night.
This is a trend that has been developing for years. As the World Series ends later and later, the time in which baseball does its postseason housecleaning - picking up or rejecting options, deciding which players to offer arbitration to and the like - are also pushed back. Heck, the entire free-agent pool won't be known until after Saturday at midnight when teams have to decide which players to offer contracts to.
Until the big free agents fall into place, teams tend to be reluctant to make trades. And that's where the agents come in.
Boras is best remembered in Philly for advising Phillies No. 1 draft pick J.D. Drew to sit out an entire season. He represents, among others, outfielder Matt Holliday, third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielder Johnny Damon, all of whom are available to the highest bidder.
Like him or hate him, he's really good at what he does. Which is to extract maximum dollars from the coffers of teams and transferring it into the bank accounts of his clients.
And his virtuoso performance on the mezzanine level yesterday was practically a primer on how he weaves his spell.
