Scott Boras says the ‘incentive for the race to the bottom’ led to the Braves winning the World Series

Ahead of a possible lockout between Major League Baseball and players over a new collective bargaining agreement, agent Scott Boras claimed the integrity of a season has been eroded in the sport.

Boras expressed his concerns on the state of MLB during a session with reporters Wednesday at the general managers meetings at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. He believes the decision in 2012 to put a cap on the draft and restrict what teams could spend “created an incentive for the race to the bottom.”

Boras pointed to teams being non-competitive during the season and trading away players, which is “making the game and the season very different than what it was intended to be, and that was having an incentive to win every game that you play.”

Boras referred to the Atlanta Braves and how they won the World Series this year, going from a sub-.500 team at the beginning of August to winning the division and making a postseason run thanks to the bevy of players they acquired at the trade deadline.

“We have now created an understanding that a fan would not know who the true team is, until frankly, the trading deadline,” Boras said. “So in effect, the integrity of the 2021 season changed because it was a race to the bottom to get draft picks for many, many teams unloading payroll and not in any way respecting the integrity of divisional races and or the dynamic of what a world championship should mean.”

The Cubs were among the teams who overhauled, trading away one-third of their opening-day roster in a series of eight trades with seven teams. However, Boras avoided specifically criticizing or even mentioning the Cubs as one of those organizations, stating he didn’t want to blame individual teams for taking advantage of the existing system.

“That’s the job of a team,” Boras said. “You’ve got to sit there and wade through the water you’re swimming. So the reality of it is it’s not about teams’ individual conduct. It’s about what we need to do holistically to remedy the competitiveness of our game and return so each phase of the game has to be about a fan going to the ballpark and saying my team has a real reason to win today.”

Boras was equipped with plenty of analogies and puns, too, as he promoted his free agents, including shortstops Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, outfielder Nick Castellanos and former Cubs third baseman

Kris Bryant. He referred to Bryant as the “Sean Connery of Major

League Baseball” and the Hollywood image that invokes.

“Positional versatility that makes him a untouchable,” Boras said. “He has (James) Bondlike abilities to create a great middle of the lineup. He’s always in the hunt for October. He’s an extraordinary gentleman who’s in a league of his own.”

Boras also touted Chicago White Sox free agent Carlos Rodón.

“When you think about sculpting a pitching staff, your ‘Thinking Man,’ the target without a doubt is Rodón,” Boras said. Boras thanked the White Sox for not extending a qualifying offer to Rodón.

“For us, obviously, we’re pursuing a multiyear contract,” Boras said,

“and weren’t going to sign a one-year contract.”

After battling through various injuries earlier in his career, Rodón had a breakthrough season in 2021. He went 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA and 185 strikeouts, earning a spot on the All-star team for the first time.

“I think everyone back in Chicago has a very positive feeling about Carlos’ season, his performance,” Boras said.

Arm fatigue and soreness became an issue down the stretch, including a stint on the injured list Aug. 11-26 with left shoulder fatigue, but he did reach 99 mph during his start in Game 4 of the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros.

Rodón pitched 7 2/3 innings in pandemicshortened 2020 season and 132 2/3 innings this season.

“There’s never been anything wrong with

Rodón’s shoulder,” Boras said. “All that, his time, effort, was about really sequencing the innings so he could get rest.

And I thought (general manager) Rick Hahn and the White Sox did a great job with tapering him and lowering his innings. We have a lot of evidence, and we talked about this, about how we’re going to keep him off the mound, so he can provide something for them in the postseason (when) he had this dramatic innings jump.

“So there was never anything physically wrong with Carlos. It was just about, we have reached an innings jump that could possibly have been — and there were some players in the past that have been injurious when they make those kinds of jumps. So they did a really good job of tapering his innings in September and late August to allow him to safely proceed during the remainder of the season.”

Players receiving the qualifying offer have the option of accepting the one-year deal, reportedly for $18.4 million, or declining with draft-pick compensation coming into play.