Scott Boras Has A Diabolically GENIUS Idea To Fix The Minor Leagues
My point is, until you have a system where MLB acts like a university with tenure... any type of coach or staff member that comes in gets some kind of reward. This type of insurance, etc. Every club contributes the same amount of money. We do this so all the managers, coaches, staff and development people are commonly paid regardless of the team. And it's done from an MLB standard. Then you're going to attract the level of employees that have a career opportunity rather than being part of an individual team where you're worried about tenure. Worrying about other things. So you're going to be honest about what's going on, and you'll end up with a more universal method of development that is certified at an MLB standard vs. an individual standard.
-------
Scott Boras couldn't be more spot on about development issues across MLB. It's such an individual endeavor at nearly every level of the process. The staff of professionals that are coaching, training, treating etc. are all hired by teams. There's no oversight from the league. There's massive discrepancies in pay, opportunity, hierarchy, communication and everything in between. There's very little transparency in success vs. failure. There's loyalty to the club over the player because it's not a fluid/free market for labor services. Everything flows back to keeping owners happy, which then puts all the incentive and pressure on development staff to hold and exercise bias. There's just way too many inherent pressures on the development system to the point we know it has so much room for improvement.
So what's holding MLB back from ushering in a new era of development?
Personally I think we're already headed down that path whether we realize it or not. Plenty of clubs have already taken on this level of commitment to their minor league system. And in short order it should be very obvious just how much a different it makes (Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, etc.) and from there it opens up the door for other clubs to pressure the league to regulate the teams that built this advantage. Start connecting dots and you can see the league pivoting to a standardized formula for development resources. It makes too much sense not to go down this path when you consider the money saved on a shrunken system. You'll draft and sign less players because there's a greater conversion into big league talent. That means less heads on the insurance plan. Less beds and meal money to give out. Everything points in this direction.
But remember it's baseball so we'll need a full generation to implement some half ass plan that will be executed only to the extent that it can be exploited. Thats the MLB I know and love and it's a damn shame guys like Scott Boras don't have a greater say in the world of player advocacy. Go listen to the full interview and tell me he isn't the smartest man in baseball.