In what has become an annual tradition at the Winter Meetings, agent Scott Boras held court for all of the reporters in attendance.  MLB Trade Rumors was on hand for the scrum and we’ve got a few of the highlights below:
- One reporter asked if Boras would be willing to consider a one-year deal for free agent outfielder Denard Span.  Boras flatly rejected that notion and said that he will be gunning for a multi-year contract.  Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter) hears from some in the industry that feel Span may have to settle for a one-year deal with incentives due to health concerns.
- Boras was asked about the decision for Matt Wieters to accept the qualifying offer from the Orioles and he explained that the catcher’s free agent market would have been bogged down too much by the draft pick forfeiture had he tried it.  When asked by MLBTR why he and Ian Kennedy opted to reject the QO, Boras quipped, “Well, someone told me this pitching market was going to be advanced.  I think it was pretty obvious to us at the time that the decision was going to be what it is.”
- I asked Boras about the market for starter Wei-Yin Chen, who stands as one of the strongest remaining starters available.  Boras characterized his market as “great” and made a fun, agent-slanted case for his client.  “The last two years his ERA is lower against AL East teams than David Price, so that tells you how good a pitcher he is,” Boras said.
- I also asked Boras about reliever Greg Holland and his unique situation in free agency.  Boras confirmed the widely expected notion that Holland will seek out a two-year deal and he says that “a number” of teams with interest in that type of deal have spoken to him about such a pact.  Boras also said that Holland could return to action in time for the 2016 postseason.  From the outside, one has to wonder if Holland will be able to rebound that quickly after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late September.
Say what you want, but Boras is so by far the best at his job without doing anything overtly unethical that you have to admire him.
I don’t admire him at all, I think he is a pos and single handedly is the cause for the asinine contracts. A guy that does not treat others fair and puts his greed and ego above what’s best for the entire entity. 150 million contract is absolutely a fair deal for Chris Davis but he can’t sign it because Boras has to wait for every piece of available information before pimping him off to the team he can milk the most money out of. Not caring about the impact to the team, fans, or players family as long as he gets the player every last dime. He has openly admitted he does not want teammates or coaches calling players during free agency and pushes the players to wait and wait.
Players deserve more, MLB profits have gone up twice as much as players salaries. I’d much rather have the money in the players pockets than the owners.
The problem Ray is that guys are getting deals that aren’t in line with their performance. Virtually half the league has guys on their team that are dead money and can’t be moved. As teams are reluctant to drop them we as fans are forced to watch them struggle to regain some value. That’s not good for fans or the game in general. In the NFL if you can no longer perform you get replaced. Doesn’t happen in baseball.
Players get to choose their agents. If Boras is so terrible, then the players are either terrible judges of character or gluttons for punishment.
Most that have him as an agent really seem to like him, or so I’ve heard. Not sure why you, amongst others, have such a vendetta against him.
He wants to pursue the market and get his clients the most amount of money possible. Nothing wrong with that.
The players that he represents pay him to maximize the contracts that they sign. They know what they are getting into (or they should) when they sign his sports agent contract, and, like any other profession, they seek the highest bidder for their services.
To call Boras a greedy and egotistical guy is to compliment his ability to absolutely provide an incredible service to the players he represents, by way of making sure they receive the most compensation the market will allow.
What exactly is asinine about the current contracts? The players portion of the total revenue in baseball has dropped precipitously over the past decade to about 40%. Do you believe that the players don’t deserve as much of the $9.5 billion in revenue that baseball made as the owners? I don’t. They are the product. and certainly deserve at least a 50% cut., so the rise in player salaries needs to increase to bring that back in line with the rise in revenues.
What agent doesn’t try to get the most money for their clients? Why wouldn’t Boras try to squeeze max dollars out of teams? That is, quite literally, one of the chief things that his players pay him to do.
Casey Close just got a $206MM contract for Zack Greinke and is probably going to get $200MM for Jason Heyward this winter. And he got Masahiro Tanaka $155MM, plus a quarter of a billion dollars for Derek Jeter over the course of his career. Why aren’t you calling for his head?
So many people seem to want to vilify Boras for getting money for his clients, as if that’s the reason ticket prices are rising. Owners wouldn’t magically lower the cost of going to a game and make concessions at the park cheaper if they weren’t paying their players as much. They’d just enjoy a higher profit margin.
If you want to be angry at any entity for the rising contracts — and that’s silly, in my eyes — be angry at the Players Union, which encourages every single player to get the most money possible so as to set increasingly high precedents for the next waves of players to come.
Saying Boras is “single handedly responsible” for the current economic climate of baseball is misplacing your anger and frankly is just kind of bizarre.
So why blame Boros? How about blaming the team owners. What if they walk in and say: “here’s our best offer for Davis. If you don’t take it….we’re moving on.”
Maybe you have to admire him, but don’t try to speak for everyone.
it’s his job to get his clients the best deal possible. no owner is forced to pay out these sums of money. boros is the guy I would hire.
i would not touch Span for more than 1 year.
Nope. I agree.
Still not understanding his rationale for Kennedy rejecting the QO. The pitching market is crap next year, he would have made more then.
I agree. He drops so far down the list of available starters this year that it can only depress whatever market he thinks he has.
I look forward to the annual Boras speeches. Don’t like the guy, but for the overwhelming majority of his clients, he gets them the biggest and baddest contracts. Occasionally, he misfires and will misjudge things-Stephen Drew and Johnny Damon come to mind, but he’s hired for his tenacity and acumen, and he wouldn’t have repeat customers without showing it. I’m basically a pro-labor guy–these players have extraordinary talents that most of us couldn’t dream of having. They get paid what the market could bear, because they produce a product we want to see.
Does Scott look fat in this picture must be from his wallet puffing up.
Love him or hate him, Boras is the best baseball sports agent currently. As an aspiring attorney, I respect how he represents his clients interests so well.
Is Boras good for his clients? Yes Is he good for the game of baseball? No
Those are two separate issues.
Boros wasn’t hired by MLB. The owners have to decide what is “good” for the game of baseball and the owners are the ones who sign the paychecks. If some owner wants to give Chris Davis a $200 million dollar contract thinking it’ll get more eyeballs on their team, it’s their choice—not Boros.