Scott Boras Is Baseball’s Biggest Problem

Baseball agent Scott Boras is known by MLB players and executives to be the most powerful agent in the sport. He is well known for securing large contracts for his clients and for holding out as long as possible to secure the best possible deals. However, teams are starting to catch up to his tactics and throughout this prolonged free agency period, he is starting to emerge as the game’s biggest issue.

Boras represented four of the game’s biggest free agents this offseason- Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Snell. Three of them remain unsigned, while Bellinger just signed a reduced deal to return to the Chicago Cubs. A big reason why these players have or went unsigned for so long was their agent and the unwillingness of executives to cave to his tactics.

Teams Aren’t Bidding Against Themselves Anymore

After a bounceback season with the Cubs in 2023, Boras and Bellinger demanded a deal worth $200 million over a span of seven or eight years. However, because there are skeptics over whether or not Bellinger can repeat his production from last year, the Cubs were the only team with serious interest in him. Team executives Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins smartly decided not to bet against themselves, and as a result they secured their desired contract for Bellinger- three years for $80 million, with the option for opt outs after the first two years. Ultimately, the deal is just three one-year deals.

The Red Sox are currently in a similar position that the Cubs were. They want to sign Montgomery, but Boras is holding out for a larger deal that the team rightfully doesn’t want to commit to. And just like Chicago, the Red Sox are the only known team with serious interest in Montgomery.

The Yankees are in a Boras-style predicament with Snell at the moment. They offered the two-time Cy Young winner a six year deal worth $150 million, but Boras and Snell said no because they want a larger deal. As a result, the team went and signed a cheaper option in former Cubs starter Marcus Stroman. Like Bellinger and Montgomery, the Yankees are the only team with real interest in Snell.

Teams are no longer willing to shell out large contracts to players when they are the only ones with serious interest in said player. As a result, there has been a decline in really bad contracts. However, some still linger.

Boras Is Responsible For Some Of The Game’s Worst Current Contracts

Bleacher Report recently did a piece on the ten worst contracts in baseball. Boras represents four of them, including the top three. The rankings for Boras clients were as follows: Stephen Strasburg (first), Anthony Rendon (second), Kris Bryant (third), and Carlos Correa (ninth).

Strasburg’s contract is a prime example of a team who overreacted after that player had a big moment. Though a three-time All-Star, Strasburg has spent most of his career dealing with injuries. However, after a great 2019 postseason run that culminated in Strasburg winning the World Series MVP award with the Washington Nationals, the team handed him a seven-year deal worth $245 million. Since then, Strasburg has barely played due to injuries and is now essentially being forced to retire due to nerve damage in his body.

Rendon is another former player from the World Series-winning Nationals team that decided to cash in after getting his ring. He signed with the Los Angeles Angels during the 2019 offseason for the same contract as Strasburg, seven years for $245 million, and like Strasburg, has been injured. In addition, Rendon has significantly underperformed to the level of his contract and has been suspended twice for on field altercations with players and fans. He also recently desired that he does not care about baseball and it is just a job for him.

Bryant, who won the 2016 World Series with the Cubs, underperformed and dealt with injuries for a good portion of the remainder of his Cubs tenure after the World Series win before being traded in mid-2021. During the following offseason, he signed with the Rockies for seven years and $182 million. Since he went to Colorado, he has dealt with injuries and, when he is healthy, underperformance, just like he did in Chicago.

There is a clear theme with these Boras contracts- all of these players have signed large contracts after winning championships, and have turned them into albatross contracts due to an inability to stay healthy and subsequent underperformance. While teams have scaled back on signing players to huge deals since these contracts were signed, Boras is still responsible for these contracts as well as a handful of past bad contracts. For this reason, a lot of teams refuse to negotiate with his clients, including perennial contenders like the Dodgers and Braves.

Baseball is catching up to Scott Boras and his tactics, and that's a good thing. He is bad for the sport because he has made the game about money. Teams will no longer bid against themselves to secure a player if they are the only ones with serious interest in them because they don't want to be stuck with bad contracts. As a result, Boras is being forced to cave into the demands of team owners who want smaller contracts for less money, which again is a good thing. Hopefully, MLB does something to resolve the ongoing Boras issue soon.

Serafino Diaz is a writer at Chaotically Intolerant, Phoenix's finest Vikings, Bucks, and Cubs fan, traveling everywhere I can.