Boras creates free-agent flurry
NEW YORK — Scott Boras showed up at the winter meetings with his own press conference backdrop. How appropriate, given his banner offseason.
Beloved by his highprofile clients, courted by powerful owners and a polarizing figure for fans, baseball’s most famous agent negotiated $814 million of contracts in little over three days last week.
All told, he projects his deals will top $1.2 billion and lift his career agreements past $9 billion.
In an industry where agent commissions typically are 3 to 5%, that adds up. Not bad for a former Cardinals and Cubs infielder who never made it above Double-A.
“The greatest joy certainly in my life is when you get to make the phone calls I got to make last week,” Boras said. “You’ve gone on a journey with them that may have taken 10, 11 years for them to reach this point in their lives where they’re getting their ultimate reward of what they hoped for when they came into the game. It provides them the opportunity to win, it provides them security for them and their families, it properly places them among their peers. It’s a very rewarding and prideful moment that often is very emotional.”
He opened the winter meetings by striking a $245 million, seven-year deal between World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals. That record contract for pitchers lasted just one day, shattered when Boras got Gerrit Cole a $324 million, nineyear agreement with the New York Yankees. Boras finished the meetings by landing third baseman Anthony Rendon a $245 million, seven-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels.
If fans know the name of one agent, it’s the 67-yearold Boras. His impact has been far greater than his .293 batting average with four home runs over four minor league seasons — he spent time spent as a double-play partner with future All-Star Garry Templeton and Ken Oberfkell.
He loves the limelight, seen in his front-row seats at Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium. He works to represent many of the top prospects ahead of the amateur draft and is criticized by competitors for trying to steal their clients as they approach free agency. His clients fill three of the eight seats on the executive subcommittee of the players’ association: Max Scherzer, James Paxton and Elvis Andrus.
His news conferences are focal points at the general managers gathering and winter meetings, filled with big-picture suggestions such as a neutral site World Series and overthe-top metaphors such as dividing teams into categories of supermarket shoppers and bird species, determined by wealth and aggressiveness. This year he unveiled a backdrop with his company logo, a B over a baseball field.
What stands out most his client list, the envy of many other agents.
“He knows the market. He’s got relationships, and he’s got really talented players,” Nats GM Mike Rizzo said. “I think the talent level dictates the deals that are made.”