The basic problem from the player's perspective is that, once drafted, he has only one team he can negotiate with. There is very little leverage for him to negotiate; his only option is not to sign at all. Boras apparently is willing to have his clients do that -- pull a year in indy ball instead of MiLB -- and I have to say, apparently it works, all the way from beta test J.D. Drew on up. At least, it works if you are the kind of player capable of starting a bidding war.
For those of us who've been through a draft now, I have to laugh at the romanticized idea that players should just play for peanuts while owners pocket the money. You wouldn't believe the stuff the teams pull to try to screw a player's price down. And I mean, nickle-dime stuff.
I know of one player who was pretty sure he was going to go to an elite university, one of the nation's top baseball programs as well. He was considered "unsignable" by many and not taken until day 2 of the draft. He had a price that never wavered. Well, at some point the team decided they really did want him. Did they pay his price to get him away from his college commitment?
Well, sort of. First, they offered him 1/3 less. He politely declined.
Then they offered him 1/6 less. He again politely declined.
Last minute, they came up to his number.
Who was being greedy? The player was actually expecting them to pass and to go to college for at least three years. He was perfectly happy to do that. He wasn't going to give that up unless it was "offer you can't refuse" money. The team was told this straight up, yet even after they determined they wanted him, their attitude was, "Hey, we pay $4 m/year for utility players, but let's see if we can get this hot prospect for a few dollars less than he says."
My own son was in a similar position. Prior to the draft, a scout called and offered him a pre-draft deal at about 1/5 of the price we'd set as a condition of bypassing college. I wasn't there. No advisor, just son on the phone. Son politely declined.
Would you take $(1/4 of asking price)? Son again politely declines and explains his position.
Scout indicates he fully understands. But what about $(40% of asking price)? Son declines again. Scout says, I'll have to talk to my scouting director.
I swear, when I heard this related by son, I thought we were buying a used car off the lot, not experiencing a dream come true. I fully expected our next call would say, "You'd better take that offer, someone else is looking at that draft slot."
Yeah, tell me more about how we should all be enraptured with the romantic idea that baseball is not a business at the pro level.
Alvarez should no more sign for less than his market value, than Russell Crowe should do his next movie for union scale. And maybe the Rolling Stones should play one last tour for nothing, just for the love of their music.