Leading OFF
Boras, major league free agents bask in offseason riches
SAN DIEGO – Quite simply, it was the greatest week by an agent in baseball history.
In a matter of about 48 hours, Scott Boras had three clients sign contracts worth a staggering $824 million, with third baseman Anthony Rendon signing a seven-year, $245 million contract with the Angels.
“Players at the winter meetings went from the ‘Big Chill,’ ” Boras told USA TODAY Sports, “to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ ”
This is a high-powered agent who was ridiculed last winter for misreading the market, dragging out negotiations into spring training and midsummer and not getting the deal that blows away the industry.
Well, Boras threw a left hook with the signing of Stephen Strasburg to a sevenyear, $245 million contract with the Nationals.
A right cross came the next day with the Yankees signing Gerrit Cole to a nineyear, $324 million deal.
And an uppercut, knockout punch with the Angels quickly grabbing Rendon.
Why, when you count Mike Moustakas’ four-year, $64 million deal with the Reds the week before, Boras has just negotiated $878 million worth of contracts.
Considering he represents free agent pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel and outfielder Nick Castellanos, he will wind up negotiating in excess of $1 billion worth of contracts before the winter ends.
If he gets 5% commission on those deals, he will earn at least $50 million, more than any player, executive or commissioner has ever earned in a single season.
Kids, you don’t want to grow up to be a ballplayer. You want to be a baseball agent.
Just like that, Boras has shredded the narrative on baseball’s slow free agent winter, tossed it into a bonfire and watched it go up in flames.
We complained all last offseason about the free agent process, and now we’re grumbling about what we’ll do until spring training.
On Dec. 15, Madison Bumgarner agreed to a five-year, $85 million contract with the Diamondbacks. Bumgarner was expected to fetch $100 million as a free agent. Except for third baseman Josh Donaldson, there won’t be a $100 million signing for the rest of the winter.
The big boys are all gone.
“I think a lot of clubs have seen the result of taking an academic approach in a competitive environment,” Boras said. “That has resulted in declines in attendance, lack of interest and unfulfilled expectations. Therefore, I believe they’re returning to a more traditional approach where they’re going to go out and supplement their teams with known and veteran talent.
“And give them a greater likelihood of fulfilling their expectancies rather than relying on predictive models that over time have provided them with very serious detriment in some cases, not at all a return that they had hoped for, and obviously clubs taking traditional approaches that have passed them.”
In other words, it’s old school baseball again. If you need a star player, grab him, at any cost necessary.
The Angels bid nearly $300 million on
Cole before losing him to the Yankees. So what do they do?
Turn around and give Rendon a takeit-or-leave it offer, just as they did with Albert Pujols on a 10-year, $240 million contract in 2011, and Josh Hamilton on a five-year, $125 million deal a year later.
The Angels now are the first team in history to have three players with contracts exceeding $240 million, with Mike Trout getting a 10-year, $360 million extension last spring.
And Boras winds up laughing all the way to the bank. Really, he played this market perfectly.
Everyone thought he would have Cole sign his contract first and set the marketplace for Strasburg. It went the other direction. He made sure that Strasburg went right where he wanted to stay, with the highest price for a pitcher in baseball history. And with Strasburg getting $35 million a year for seven years, he told teams that Cole needed a nine-year deal, since he’s two years younger, and a slightly higher annual salary, since he’s better. Voila! Nine years at $36 million a year.
He was hoping to get Rendon a contract similar to fellow third baseman Nolan
Arenado’s eight-year, $260 million extension last spring, paying him an average of $32.5 million a year.
Well, guess what?
Rendon receives $35 million a year, the most ever paid to a third baseman in baseball history.
Just like that, we’ve had the greatest spending spree in winter meeting history, nearly 20 years after Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year, $252 million deal with the Rangers, Manny Ramirez’s eight-year, $160 million contract with the Red Sox and Mike Hampton’s eight-year, $121 million pact with the Rockies.
And these were all negotiated by one man.
It’s the first time any agent has had three players sign contracts exceeding $100 million in an entire offseason, let alone a single week.
It will be forever remembered as the winter meetings that the cold free agent market thawed out quicker than a frozen margarita on the beaches of San Diego.
The money is flowing again in baseball.