Boras's Next Assault on Draft Might Come From Far East

According to Stanley M. Brand, a Washington-based lawyer who serves as vice president of Minor League Baseball and who acted as counsel to MLB during the congressional hearings on steroid use, these interpretations are similar to the way residency is determined under tax law.

"It's an important concept under the law," Brand said. Strasburg, he said, "wasn't born [in Japan]. He hasn't voted there. He doesn't own property there. [A claim of residency] looks like what it is: a ruse to get around the draft."

However, according to William B. Gould IV, a Stanford law professor and former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, if the handbook isn't distributed to the agents or players -- and an MLB spokesman said it is not -- Boras could claim "it isn't binding or relevant to the [residency] rule."

At the heart of the matter is the draft itself, which Boras sees as patently unfair in that it does not cover international players, who are considered free agents, and suppresses the incomes of American players, in his words, to "20 cents on the dollar." Boras has frequently equated Strasburg with premium, major league-ready international players who have signed lucrative big league deals, such as Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka ($52 million) and Cuban pitcher José Contreras ($32 million), and should be paid accordingly.

In 1997, the premium talent was widely considered to be Drew. That year, the draft was still called the "amateur" draft, and its eligibility rules applied only to players who had never signed a contract with a major or minor league team. When Drew's negotiations reached an impasse -- the Phillies were offering about one-fifth of Drew's $11 million asking price -- Boras advised him to sign with the independent St. Paul Saints. Boras then declared that Drew, by rule, would become a free agent a week before the 1998 draft.

MLB revised the rule, renaming the draft the "first-year player draft" and stating that independent league players were still subject to the draft. With baseball's union joining the fight -- angered by MLB's attempt at implementing unilaterally a workplace rule change that it believed had to be bargained -- the issue went before an arbitrator.

Although the arbitrator, Dana Eischen, upheld the union's grievance, he ruled that because Drew was not a union member, the decision did not apply to him, and Drew remained subject to the draft. He re-entered the draft in 1998 and was picked by the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he signed for a guaranteed $7 million.

Players still follow the Drew path of signing with independent league teams -- pitcher Aaron Crow, drafted by the Nationals with the ninth overall pick, did it last year -- as a way to buy time in hopes of gaining better draft position the following year. But with Strasburg, Boras has hinted to friends of attempting something "unique."

If the unique plan involves Japan, it might get messy.

A player signing with NPB would be subject to its "reserve" system, which binds a player to his team for nine years, although exceptions can be made. According to Itaru Kobayashi, a Columbia Business School graduate and former NPB player who is now marketing director for the league's SoftBank Hawks, the bigger issue would be cultural.

"This will do more harm than good to the NPB club. [Strasburg] will not be welcomed, neither by the teammates or the media," Kobayashi said. "It is not easy to sympathize with a guy who comes to Japan just as [part of] a negotiation process to squeeze more millions out of [an MLB] club."

According to Kobayashi, NPB officials are still perturbed about the Boston Red Sox' signing last winter of amateur pitcher Junichi Tazawa, violating what is seen as a "gentlemen's agreement" between the leagues that neither would pluck away the best amateur talent from the other.

"We would not do what we do not want others to do to us," Kobayashi said, "unless we really have to do so."

Boras is also looked upon unfavorably in at least some parts of Japan over his handling of Matsuzaka's messy jump from the NPB's Seibu Lions to the Red Sox in December 2006.

Boras "is generally regarded as greedy and egotistical," said Robert Whiting, an American who has authored seven books on Japanese baseball, "and many people here are [fed] up and angered by his remarks that he is intending to use Japan just as a tool to intimidate MLB and get more money for his client. It shows a lack of respect for the country."

Whiting mentioned an additional option for Boras and Strasburg that would avoid the acrimony from the NPB: industrial-league professional baseball, called "Shakai Yakyu." According to Whiting, there is "not an inconsiderable amount of interest in these leagues," and the annual tournament is a well-attended affair at the Tokyo Dome.

"Strikes me as a variation of the J.D. Drew-St. Paul adventure," Whiting said.

Even if Boras were to succeed in getting Strasburg a job in Japan, getting him to the promised land of free agency likely would require a challenge to baseball's residency rules. And because Strasburg is not a member of the union, it is a fight that would occur in court, as opposed to arbitration.

"I wouldn't be shocked if that's the route," said one baseball executive who has butted heads with Boras in the past. "The one place where he might stand a chance is in antitrust law."

Ultimately, though, Boras's undoing could come from the very document he is hoping will guide him to a big payday: the Major League Rules. Rule 4, which governs the draft, ends with subsection (k), which says this:

"Official interpretations of this Rule 4 may be made from time to time by the Commissioner or the Commissioner's designee."

Staff writer Chico Harlan contributed to this report.