Cubs can’t afford to listen to Scott Boras

Scott Boras, who represents Chicago Cubs phenom Kris Bryant, has criticized the team and their commitment to winning due to their handling of Bryant. The Cubs must ignore him and do what’s best for the team – keep Bryant in the minor leagues to start the season.

Scott Boras is a great agent and has been for his entire career. He is famous for negotiating outrageously inflated contracts, one of the many reasons his clients love him. Some of the more ludicrous deals that come to mind include Kevin Brown’s $105 million contract in 1998, and Alex Rodriguez’s $252 million contract in 2000.

His long list of current clientele includes Prince Fielder, Matt Holliday, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, and Troy Tulowitzki. He has represented the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux, Mark Teixeira, and Carlos Beltran in the past.

Boras also happens to represent Chicago Cubs super-prospect Kris Bryant. Billed as a can’t-miss talent when he was drafted, Bryant tore minor league pitching to shreds last season, batting .325 with 43 homers and 110 RBIs. It led Boras to wonder aloud:

“The issue is, why wasn’t he called up September of last year when he could have been prepared for the 2015 season? He was the Minor League Player of the Year. Others who did not perform as well were called up. And that issue is even more relevant today.”

That’s a fair point. Now, take into account this spring training – he leads the league with six homers (no other player has more than three), and his play suggests he’d be a lock to make the team out of camp if this was a normal situation.

Unfortunately for Boras, the circumstances surrounding Bryant are anything but normal.

A major league player earns the right to free agency after six full seasons of service time. Bryant would no doubt be set to cash in on a mega-deal when his free agency comes along as he is certainly going to be a star. A season of service time is 172 days. Since the baseball calendar is roughly 183 days, the Cubs need to leave him in the minor leagues for the first 12 days of the 2015 season to get that extra year of service time before free agency.

If you check the schedule, the Cubs are to play 9 games in those first 12 days, meaning they would be without Bryant’s services for just nine games. Nine games this season in order to retain him at a club-friendly deal for another full year? From a Cubs ownership, front office, and fan perspective, this makes a lot of sense.

Boras, like all great agents would, begs to differ. He has been at odds with Cubs ownership and openly questioned their priorities when speaking to USA Today and FOX Sports.

“Cubs ownership has a choice. Are they going to present their market that they are trying to win? Tom Ricketts said they were all about winning. When someone says it’s the system, no, it’s a choice – the choice of winning … This is no different than [Jason] Heyward, Elvis Andrus, [Troy] Tulowitzki, Austin Jackson, [Jose] Fernandez with the Marlins. Their owners had the same choice [Ricketts] has. They were about winning and they went for it. And those clubs got the result of and effect of players performing and winning, in some cases going to the World Series.”

While Boras must be admired for making a strong case for his client to make the team out of camp in order to ensure a bigger deal sooner, this has nothing to do with Tom Ricketts. When it comes to baseball operations, decisions are made by Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president of baseball operations. Epstein made that clear:

“Kris Bryant’s development path has absolutely nothing to do with ownership, period. As with all our baseball decisions, I will determine where Kris begins the 2015 season after consulting with members of our baseball operations staff. Comments from agents, media members and anybody outside our organization will be ignored.”

Epstein, to his credit, has tried to make an actual baseball case for keeping him in the minors, by saying that his defense is the one lacking facet of his game.

“As I told Kris last September and again at the start of spring training, we view him as nearly big league ready. The remaining area for improvement is his defense – something Kris agrees with … If enough time remains to get Kris into a good rhythm defensively, we may consider putting him on the club. If not, we see nothing wrong with using the early part of the season at Iowa to get him in that rhythm.”

One may argue that his superior bat will more than make up for his average glove, but it doesn’t matter. Epstein doesn’t owe anyone, especially Boras, any explanations. His job is to do what is best for the Chicago Cubs, not what is best for Kris Bryant’s, and therefore Scott Boras’s, wallet.

Keeping Bryant in the minors to start the season makes too much sense. The nine games he misses in the early part of his rookie season won’t swing the World Series odds in anyone’s favor. The extra full year the Cubs get in his prime six years from now, however, may very well impact the team’s results that season. Boras doesn’t really care about the Cubs’ commitment to winning, but Epstein does – and he needs to show it by not listening to the noise.

Next: This Is Jay Cutler's Last Chance

February 25, 2015; Mesa, AZ, USA; Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein during a spring training workout at Sloan Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports