Scott Boras last December helped CF Jung Hoo Lee ink a six-year, $113M contract with the GiantsGetty Images
Baseball agent Scott Boras has “listened all off-season to the criticism, hate, blame, and perhaps the pent-up envy among his detractors,” but he “refuses to second-guess himself on any strategic decisions during these negotiations,” according to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY. Boras noted his players “received longer contracts with larger guarantees, but chose to take deals with opt-outs to hit the market again” this offseason. His peers, his competition in the cut-throat industry of baseball agents, are “loving the fact that his winter of dominating the free-agent market with record-setting contracts have come to a screeching halt.” Nightengale wrote "no one anticipated" that Giants P Blake Snell would sign for only a two-year, $62M contract; A’s 3B Matt Chapman for three years and $54M; or Cubs CF Cody Bellinger, three-years and $80M. Boras "didn’t try to hide his disgust and frustration by those taking shots at him.” Boras: “You can’t make judgments about this. Heard it all, done it all, been judged, but the key thing is that we give players decisions that maybe most agents wouldn’t, because we give them optionality as opposed to total guarantee.” Several veterans said that it has become “almost a fight between Boras clients and non-Boras clients,” believing that Boras has “too much influence.” Others are “peeved at the lack of spending” while others “believe there should be more input from more players besides the eight-person executive board.” Boras “sneers at the idea that the CBA is suddenly one-sided” simply because “spending was down by” $1.1B this year. He was "opposed to approving the deal," but says that the agreement was “substantially improved from the past” (USA TODAY, 3/20).
