Super agent rips Blue Jays’ game plan,

Agent says ‘Blue Flu’ was caused by failure to sign ‘attractive players’

Famed agent Scott Boras criticized the Blue Jays at the MLB general managers’ meetings Wednesday, blaming the team’s roster construction for a significant dip in attendance this past season.

Boras told reporters in his annual media session that Toronto is suffering from “the Blue Flu,” resulting in many empty seats.

“Toronto is a wonderful city. It’s been a great franchise. They’ve drawn three million fans,” Boras said.

“They’ve lost near a third of their fan base due to the Blue Flu of not bringing attractive players that their fans find interesting to their market.”

The Blue Jays, who finished fourth in the American League East with a 73-89 record, had a total attendance of 2,325,281 in 2018, down 878,605 from the year before.

Boras, who represents three Blue Jays — right-hander Aaron Sanchez, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and outfielder Billy McKinney — also took aim at the Miami Marlins. Miami drew an average crowd of 10,014 and saw total attendance drop by 771,910.

“The fans of Florida have certainly brought the MIA to Miami,” he said. In other news: The season-end offer made by the Washington Nationals to free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper, who turned it down, was worth $300 million (U.S.) over 10 seasons, according to the Washington Post. Harper is represented by Boras.

The Giants formally introduced Canadian Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations. Following four years as Dodgers general manager, Zaidi received a five-year contract and planned to focus on hiring a GM and farm director.

The Mariners were finalizing a deal to send catcher Mike Zunino and outfielder Guillermo Heredia to the Rays for outfielder Mallex Smith — the 10th trade between the teams since Jerry DiPoto became M’s GM, the Seattle Times reported.