Enough is enough.

First, some relevant history: The New York Yankees won 22 AL pennants in the 29 seasons from 1936-1964 ... a situation that nearly destroyed the American League.

What accounted for such dominance?

The New York Yankees had more money than any other AL team--they used that money to sign the best amateur talent year in and year out. They had a stacked farm system--they replaced Hall of Fame centerfielder Earl Combs with Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio; when Joe DiMaggio was done, they put Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle out there.

If there was a talented kid playing somewhere that everyone knew about, chances are good the Yankees could outspend any other club to sign him to a lifetime contract. The other seven AL teams had to make due with what the Yankees didn't want.

There was no draft, which gave New York a monumental advantage.

In 1965 the draft was instituted and a little over a decade later free agency came into the sport and baseball enjoyed its greatest competitive balance ever.

However Scott Boras wants to go back to the bad old days when teams had to compete financially for the best amateur talent--where clubs with the most money can sign the best talent all so he can become still richer. Even worse, he's gambling with young men's futures and careers to make it happen.

For two decades he has been trying to find ways around the draft, to get amateur players into free agency for a big payday and commission for himself. He doesn't want the best amateur players to sign with teams unable to pay top dollar. He wants teams like the Yankees and Red Sox to get the best young players because they pay the largest bonuses thereby getting him the largest commissions.

What he needs to accomplish this are young men he can convince to try to test the system's boundaries with the ultimate goal of overturning the draft completely. He informs young men that they're worth far more than what they're offering, to follow his lead and he can get them what they deserve but what he doesn't tell them are the long terms costs of following him--financially and otherwise.

He also doesn't tell them that he needs them in order to forward his interests and goals.

The thing is--Boras cares about Boras and gleefully convinces young men and their families with what seems like a lot of money to them (but chump change to Boras) to serve as his pawns to destroy the draft so he can make more money for himself. The challenge of Vanderbilt star Pedro Alvarez's deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates is allegedly about a few hundred thousand dollars now but what it's really about is millions for Boras down the road.

What the Alvarez's don't realize is that Boras is playing poker with MLB but they're spotting him the chips for this particular hand--about $6 million worth (of chips). However, $6 million in the hand is worth $6.2 million in the bush--all the more so when you consider the difference in bonus that Boras is seeking is about three months of big league play; about 90 or so games earning the major league minimum.

Alvarez can double that by reaching the majors a year earlier than he would by losing development time following Boras' advice. Don't forget that teams do everything--using options to delay a player qualifying for arbitration and free agency where the big money is and they're letting Boras delay that even further. The difference between reaching free agency before his 30th birthday is worth tens of millions of dollars.

Boras has convinced the Alvarez's that he's got a good shot at getting Pedro free agency.

Boras claims that Alvarez agreed to the Pirates offer after the deadline for draft picks to sign--and he thinks that an arbitrator will grant his client free agency; or at the very least, allow a renegotiation for a higher bonus.

One problem: if they went past the deadline then there is no contract to renegotiate—either they have a deal or they do not. Either it's a valid contract or it isn't—there's nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that stipulates that to be the penalty for going past the signing deadline. Were that the case, then why even negotiate? Just pretend to do so until let the deadline comes and goes and claim free agency.

Shyam Das--MLB's official arbitrator--can only interpret the collective bargaining agreement and decide if there's a violation and rule according to the remedies agreed to through arms' length, good faith bargaining. Unless there is a renegotiation provision in such instances, I cannot see how Das can order them to re-do the contract. Unless bad faith can be proven (and I'm sure the Pirates can make a case that Boras was an impediment to an agreement as well), Das can't award free agency since a contract was tendered according to the rules—the only point of dispute is the timing of Alvarez's acceptance; that determines whether the contract is valid or not—not whether there was a good-faith negotiation. He cannot impose his own version of frontier justice.

The collective bargaining agreement is clear on the subject--if an agreement cannot be reached at the deadline the player goes back into the draft for the following year. If the major league baseball players association (MLBPA) wins the case and says that Alvarez didn't agree in time--then he goes back into the draft, loses the $6 million bonus and a year's development time which translates into tens of millions of dollars assuming he even reaches six full years of major league service and free agency.

Boras can request free agency, but there is no phrase regarding a free agency claim being disputed; just whether the contract is binding or Alvarez returns to the draft next year.

If this was a ploy by Boras to strong-arming the Pirates for more money and he never thought that the players union would become involved—then it could fail in catastrophic mode. The MLBPA may have wished not get involved but there's been so much noise it is now impossible for the union to ignore it.

I'm guessing Das realizes that this has been going on so long (negotiating past the deadline) that he will rule that going forward, the deadline is cast in stone and will more clearly define the obligations of the parties before the midnight hour arrives and uphold this year's signings simply because of the complications that would arise from invalidating the contracts.

I assume Boras is doing this on the basis of he has nothing to lose by trying (his client being another matter) but if the contract is declared null and void, then Alvarez will probably seek out different representation.

Regardless, if Boras cannot undo the draft he certainly wishes to keep teams like the Pirates from picking his clients so they can fall to teams that can afford to overspend on untested amateurs. In both cases, it will cause a return to the era of teams like the Yankees where they had access to all the best young talent.

Obviously, Boras isn't worried about Alvarez or MLB--he's worried about his own earning power down the road and causing problems in the draft is the best way of doing it ... even if it costs young men millions and makes it difficult for teams lacking large market revenues to compete on a consistent basis.

Hopefully, the MLBPA will realize that Boras' fondest dream will not serve players interests well in that the AL didn't make a lot of money during the period of the Yankee dynasty--even the Bronx Bombers' payroll was modest by league standards except for a select few that could sell tickets. After all, why pay a player top dollar when you have all kinds of replacements in the farm system thanks to having access to the best amateur talent? Competitive balance translates into more money for the league--more money in the game means more for the players. The agent of darkness's fondest wish would also translate into far more of major league baseball's revenues being channeled from union members to amateurs.

Indeed, before the draft was instituted in 1964--collegiate star Rich Reichhardt was given a bonus by the California Angels that exceeded what men like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were earning.

Yes, he's made members of the MLBPA a lot of money but he has also cost them a not insignificant amount of money in delaying the arrival of free agency rights (which diminishes their value--the younger the player, the higher the value of those rights) and funneling moneys that could be devoted to the salaries of established professionals to unproven amateurs.

Boras cares only about himself and the MLBPA would do their membership as a collective and the game itself a huge service by decertifying him as an agent.

Players will always get their money but the union has to realize that owners aren't the only ones capable of exploiting their membership--Marvin Miller, the union's first executive director realized that sometimes agents can do more harm than good.

Scott Boras is getting to that point.