Remember Matt Harrington?

[BINGLEBOP]

Great Outside The Lines article on him on ESPN. He now makes $11.50 an hour after turning down $4.9 million.

For those who don't recall, here's the rundown from Wikipedia:

*2000 Major League Baseball Draft, first round with the 7th overall pick by the Rockies

A right-hander with a 95+ mph fastball, Harrington was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. He was selected by the Colorado Rockies with the 7th overall pick. However, Harrington and his agent Tommy Tanzer were never able to come to terms on a contract. Tanzer asked for a $4.95 million signing bonus, which was 25 percent more than what the previous year's No. 1 pick Josh Hamilton had received. The negotiations proved acrimonious, with Tanzer accusing the Rockies of backing out of an alleged pre-draft agreement to sign for his stated asking price, and the Rockies denying that such an agreement ever took place.

The Rockies' final offer was $4 million and a guaranteed major league callup by the end of 2002. Harrington turned down the deal, sat out the season and re-entered the draft in 2001. While Harrington and his parents publicly supported their agent at the time, they ultimately fired Tanzer and filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against him for giving bad advice. Tanzer was replaced with super-agent Scott Boras, who vowed to get Harrington to the point where his market value to his high school form. However he too proved unsuccessful getting Harrington signed.

*2001 Major League Baseball Draft, second round with the 58th overall pick by the Padres.

In the 2001 Draft, Harrington slipped into the second round, being drafted by the San Diego Padres with the 58th overall pick. The Padres offered him a $1.2 million signing bonus. Boras, who wanted twice that amount, rejected the offer and Harrington again declined to sign. He played in the independent leagues during the following season, putting up unimpressive numbers for St. Paul of the Northern League and Long Beach of the now-defunct Western Baseball League, going a combined 2-6 with a 6.75 ERA. He was released by Long Beach's manager Steve Yeager. Although the Padres were still free to make additional contract offers until the day of the 2002 draft, they chose not to after scouting Harrington in independent ball that May. They felt Harrington's skills had diminished, and notified him that they were not interested in signing him to a contract, and would not be drafting him again.

*2002 Major League Baseball Draft, 13th round with the 374th overall pick by the Devil Rays.

Despite his struggles in the independent leagues, Harrington was drafted again in 2002. This time, he was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 13th round. Again, he failed to agree to a contract. Tampa Bay's offers ranged in the $5,000-$20,000 range, standard 13th round money.

*2003 Major League Baseball Draft, 24th round with the 711th overall pick by the Reds.

In 2003, he fell to the 24th round of the draft (711th overall), before he was selected by the Cincinnati Reds, who were just offering little more than a chance to play.

*2004 Major League Baseball Draft, 36th round with the 1,089th overall pick by the Yankees.

In 2004, he would be drafted by the New York Yankees in the 36th Round (1,089 overall), who didn't even bother to offer him a contract.

[TheNamelessPoet]

Greed is a very bad thing... and people say Boras and agents like him are not ruining baseball... who knows what he could have been without that 1 year layoff between 2000-2001

[HoustonGM]

Greed is a very bad thing... and people say Boras and agents like him are not ruining baseball... who knows what he could have been without that 1 year layoff between 2000-2001

Boras 99% of the time gets his clients signed.

[Alloutwar]

Odd that he plummetted so far. Too bad. and yah, another strike against agents - although looking at the rockies $5 mil over 8 years offer, i too would've been against that.

This case just happens to be strongly against greedy agents. But if he had signed, it would be another Van Poppel.

[defense]

He still probably has more money than any of us will make in our lifetimes(collected a million or so from the insurance policy, and probably got a million or two from the Tanzer lawsuit).

[BINGLEBOP]

Yeah, he's doing OK with it actually. His father is the one that will "take it to his grave". Even though it's most money than most people on here will see in their lifetime, it shows you another side of him that's not consumed by greed. It sounds like there was a lot of bad advice beyond the Harringtons' control. Regardless, it's a nice "everything happens for a reason" story (if you believe that) since he met his (future) wife in Fort Worth when he was pitching in the independent league, and now is married with children. Nice to see he's happy at least.

[etothep]

Yeah, he's doing OK with it actually. His father is the one that will "take it to his grave". Even though it's most money than most people on here will see in their lifetime, it shows you another side of him that's not consumed by greed. It sounds like there was a lot of bad advice beyond the Harringtons' control. Regardless, it's a nice "everything happens for a reason" story (if you believe that) since he met his (future) wife in Fort Worth when he was pitching in the independent league, and now is married with children. Nice to see he's happy at least.

tsk tsk

[BINGLEBOP]

[etothep]

haha, you know i rarely capitalize

[reflections]

He still probably has more money than any of us will make in our lifetimes(collected a million or so from the insurance policy, and probably got a million or two from the Tanzer lawsuit).

Well I seriously doubt he got money from Tanzer, and if he did. Probably not too much. And i'm curious how much money Boras got paid. I doubt he did anything on commission. I always cringe when the players ask for so much money when they haven't done anything on the field. It's one of the few things that I think the NBA got right. Every slot in the draft has a price tag, and it's not negotiable.
But of course that would require a salary cap.

[ragecage]

my friends are right when they say I love the toilet humor cuz I laughed hardest at the doodie being x'd out.

[BINGLEBOP]

haha, you know i rarely capitalize

It was your final exam, so I think you made an exception.

[defense]

Well I seriously doubt he got money from Tanzer, and if he did. Probably not too much. And i'm curious how much money Boras got paid. I doubt he did anything on commission. I always cringe when the players ask for so much money when they haven't done anything on the field. It's one of the few things that I think the NBA got right. Every slot in the draft has a price tag, and it's not negotiable.
But of course that would require a salary cap.

He is still atleast a millionaire right now pending he didn't dispose of it in an irresponsible manner. And in Texas, he can probably survive decently with the Costco job if his wife works.

Just saying how he is more successful than the majority who are painting him out to be a loser.

[gRYFYN1]

Hubris and Greed are bad.
At the end of the, agent or not, it was his decision.
I feel bad, I wish he could have been more knowledgeable about how businesses worked.

You hear about guys always saying they want use thier scholarships in college in case a pro career doesn't work .. this is why.

[Jeffy25]

perfect example of what excessive greed will get you. I am sure Harrington has regrets, but he probably could have eventually developed into a solid ball player if he could have developed somewhere with pros...not worrying so much about money.

I'm sorry if you are fortunate in any lifetime to play professional ball, you play for whatever the hell they offer you. this nickel and dime crap can ruin young careers. I would play pro ball and put my business on hold for 10 grand a year.