Dec. 10--For one of the few times in his storied career, super agent Scott Boras declined to elaborate on the grievance filed by the Major League Baseball Players Association on behalf of client and Chicago Cubs phenom Kris Bryant.
"This is about a rules interpretation," Boras said of the allegations that the Cubs manipulated Bryant's service time so that it currently delay his free agency until after 2021.
But Boras was more expansive when asked that the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, which could be in effect by next December, could provide more clarity and prevent developments such as the case involving his client that led to the grievance.
"We're probably going to have more definition to what the party's intent in those boundaries to be," Boras said Wednesday at the Winter Meetings. "Certainly, when they draft rules and the intent behind them is very important, I think they'll be more defined about that so there is more clarification with the union and with the teams and the owners and Commissioner's Office about how we take steps to put our best players in the game and the public is aware of that."
The MLBPA contends that Bryant wasn't promoted until April 17 so that he would miss credit for a full year of service time by one day. Bryant was promoted from Triple-A Iowa after Mike Olt broke his wrist.
Bryant started the 2015 season at Triple-A Iowa despite hitting .425 with nine home runs in spring training.
"You want certainly a delineation from a neutral judicator to really tell you what the rules are," Boras said. "And I fully expect anyone who is representing anyone's interest on either side, that they'd look at a particular ambiguity and potentially interpret it in a different way than you would."
Boras, like Cubs President Theo Epstein, maintained the two sides have a healthy relationship despite the grievance.
"It's been a very cooperative effort -- medically, baseball decisions -- and many of the players we had in Boston and now have had very successful outcomes," Boras said of his association with Epstein and Co. dating back to their days with the Red Sox.
"That's really what our jobs are for both sides, to make sure the players play well and execute the contacts. ... Teams appreciate that because I know other agencies don't do that, and we do. And we've had great results. That relationship will continue for a long time because of that."
Boras, who once described the Cubs' rebuilding efforts two winters ago as an 'all-day sucker," had a unique way of replying to a question regarding the slow-moving market for free agent slugger Chris Davis.
"In the ice cream sandwich of markets, you have your boundaries and then you have all your vanilla in the middle," Boras said. "And it's pretty hard to get to the vanilla unless you get to the chocolate on the outside. So either they start at the bottom or start at the top. Normally that's how these things work.''
