Is There Collusion Among Agents and GM's in Baseball?

Earlier this morning I was listening to the Dan Patrick show. I usually never write about anything I hear about from sports talk radio but there was something interesting he was talking about today. He was talking about how Rafael Soriano signing with the Washington Nationals. He reported that Soriano was looking for a 5 year, 80 million dollar contract but he signed for 2 years, 28 million dollar contract. Patrick made the comment, "Another Scott Boras client signed with the Nationals." That comment made me think if there is a possibility of GM's colluding with agents like Scott Boras to get the best possible player for the most reasonable price? Also how do we know these teams aren't paying extra dollars to the agents for getting them the best talent? I am going to list all 32 teams by highest payroll and for this article I will list how many of Scott Boras' clients play for each each team.

1 New York Yankees $195,998,004- 1
2 Philadelphia Phillies $173,458,939- 2
3 Los Angeles Angels $154,940,524- 4
4 Boston Red Sox $146,371,619- 2
5 Texas Rangers $120,510,975- 2
6 Detroit Tigers $119,276,000- 3
7 San Francisco Giants $117,936,667- 1
8 Miami Marlins $111,598,000- 29 St. Louis Cardinals $110,297,862
10 Milwaukee Brewers $98,049,444- 211 Chicago White Sox $97,919,500
12 Minnesota Twins $94,085,000- 2
13 Los Angeles Dodgers $93,686,077- 114 New York Mets $93,357,465
15 Chicago Cubs $87,229,033
16 Atlanta Braves $82,409,942- 1
17 Seattle Mariners $81,978,100- 3
18 Baltimore Orioles $80,804,000- 3
19 Washington Nationals $80,584,145- 5
20 Colorado Rockies $78,069,571- 1
21 Cincinnati Reds $76,305,878- 222 Toronto Blue Jays $75,009,200
23 Arizona Diamondbacks $74,284,833- 224 Cleveland Indians $66,430,300
25 Tampa Bay Rays $65,008,071- 1
26 Pittsburgh Pirates $62,466,000- 1

27 Kansas City Royals $61,391,300- 3
28 Houston Astros $60,651,000- 329 San Diego Padres $55,871,900
30 Oakland Athletics $49,137,500

There are 8 teams that do not have a Scott Boras client on their team, and the most noticeable thing is that two of the teams are the A's and Padres who have the two lowest payrolls in the league. If there is collusion in baseball it wouldn't be the first time. In the 1980's there was a major an attempt by MLB owners to restrict players' salaries. If you think about it anytime there is a lockout in sports it's techically collusion on the owners part and players part to try and get more more money or make less money.

Scott Boras has come under fire before for being shady and negotiationating questionable contracts for his clients. I think this is something Major League Baseball should investigate and look into and possible even the federal government should get involved because if collusion is going on between agents and GM's then they should be barred and banned from the game. Collusion isn't any better then betting on your own team, or taking PED's. You're still helping other teams get ahead by abusing the position you're in of dealing with contracts. Cheating is cheating and there is more then one way to cheat the game and this very well could be one of them.