James Paxton loses lawsuit against U of Kentucky...

[SidDithers]

posting as a follow-up to what I thought were previous discussions about this case - but I can't find them now.

Paxton is the highly regarded pitcher drafted by the Jays in the 2009 entry draft. He went unsigned and returned to Kentucky, but it became apparent that he had an agent (the much beloved Scott Boras) negotiating on his behalf - a big no-no under NCAA rules. When the Jays and Boras couldn't agree on money, Paxton returned to Kentucky.

Then the story gets interesting. Kentucky wanted to know whether Paxton broke NCAA rules, and so opened an investigation. When Paxton wouldn't cooperate with the investigation, he was suspended by the school, then sued for the right to play.

He's now lost that lawsuit, and sits in limbo.

Being both a Canadian prospect, and a Jays draft pick, the Toronto media has followed the story closely. Here are relevant articles.

Aug article in which Jays President Paul Beeston acknowledges that Boras was controlling the negotiations:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/globe-on-baseball/beeston-wishes-he-could-have-gotten-through-to-paxton/article1256172/

Some interesting blogs commenting on the story:
Good summary of events here: http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3823:ncaa-plays-the-bully-again-with-james-paxton&catid=68:jordan-kobritz&Itemid=156
Arn Tellum comments: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arn-tellem/advice-and-constraint_b_393061.html

http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2009/12/07/andy-oliver-part-ii/
http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2009/12/09/how-will-james-paxtons-case-be-framed/
http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/?p=2644

And the most recent articles about Paxton losing his suit
http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/754240--jays-draftee-paxton-weighs-options-after-losing-lawsuit


Interesting stuff, if you like the behind the scenes, business of sports stories.

Sid