Anatomy of a Deal Gone Bad
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The Maddux Fiasco
Part III: Who Wanted What?
a baseballyarn inquiry
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Part I
Part II Part III
Part IV
Part V
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The Braves signed Maddux, leaving us with some some basic questions!
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The Player
Greg Maddux
Did he really want to be a Cub?
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Quick Quote
"We don't have any money."
Larry Himes to Scott Boras (December 9, 1992)
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The Agent
Scott Boras
Did he actually call the shots? |
The Baseball Exec
Larry Himes
Did he really want Maddux? |
The Corporate Exec
Stanton Cook
Did he actually call the shots? |
We don't know how to account for some of the variations in the basic story--for example . . .
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First Offer (Dec. 3, 1991)
Cubs offer to Player. . .
$5,000,000 a year for 5 years
Historic amount for a pitcher
Player and Agent do not respond
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Alternate version of First Offer
Maddux declines original offer because it lacks a no-trade clause!
He then changes his mind and tells team clause not necessary!
Cubs then stall and shilly-shally and do not get back to him!
Maddux demands that Cubs respond by specific date and time!
5 minutes after deadline, Cubs tell him offer has been withdrawn!
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If true, it represents a Display of Pettiness
. . . by the player for
making such a demand
. . . by Cub executives for
letting the deadline pass
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And there are two ways of interpreting Himes' complaint about bidding against himself. . .
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Himes upped his original offer from 25 to 27.5 million
Boras was not satisfied with the new amount
He wanted Himes to boost it to 30 million ("6 for 5")
No other team has been able to make an offer yet and . . .
Himes is supposed to keep bidding against himself?
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To Boras, Himes is not bidding against himself
He is bidding on the player's value, which is rising
By mid-1992, Maddux was an All Star (and Himes upped the payout)
By the end of 1992 he was a 20-game winner!
And Himes should boost the contract still further!
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