An evening spent with Scott Boras

[Roy Firestone]

You dont have to like him. Some people don’t. A lot of fans blame him and other agents for driving up the high cost of sports. Even mentioning his name to baseball fans brings out contempt and hate.

But heres the thing.

Scott Boras has done his job for the last 40 years, and he’s done it better than any other agent in the game, whether you like him or his style, or not.

Boras has been recognized by Forbes as the World’s Most Powerful Sports Agent multiple times, he has negotiated 16 record-breaking contracts and numerous agreements totaling over $100 million.

The other night, when I hosted and help induct him into the California Sports Hall of Fame,I asked him if it hurts to be held in such contempt.

The former baseball player from Sacramento said this,

“I don’t need to be adored. I don’t think any agent has ever been liked by the fans, but my job is to get my clients the best contracts, the best professional advice and protection and of course, the best financial deal we can make.”

Boras told me that he thought the Shohei Ohtani contract for the Dodgers, valued at 700 million dollars over 10 years(much of it deferred) was a “steal” for the Dodgers.

Huh?

   A steal?  How?

It’s the richest contract in all of sports history.

But heres why Boras thought the Dodgers “stole”Ohtani.

“The  Japanese and Chinese and Korean media and merchandise markets, and brand upgrade was this year alone, worth 180 million dollars to the Dodgers.

That’s just THIS year”, said Boras. "Imagine it over the course of a decade”, said Boras.

“If I represented Ohtani, and I don’t, I wouldn’t have allowed him to sign the deal that he made with the Dodgers.

I think his contract is worth at least a BILLION dollars, not 700 million.

That means players like rising superstar Gunnar Henderson and pitcher Corbin Burnes, both Boras clients, are looking at eventually hundreds of million dollars in salaries and all kinds of additional revenue streams.

“I love the new owner of the Orioles, David Rubenstein, the leader of the Carlyle Group.He’s got  an open love for his team like no owner I’ve ever seen and he said he’s willing to do what it takes to keep his biggest stars in Baltimore. Baltimore didn't;t have that kind of ownership before.

Rubenstein, 74, a former White House staffer who became a leveraged-buyout legend, built Carlyle into one of the world's largest managers of alternative assets. He has a net worth of about $5 billion. The control stake of the team -- along with its related assets, including its stake in the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network -- was sold for $1.725 billion to Rubenstein, so he has plenty more money and is willing to spend.

That doesn’t mean Boras would sign a “hometown friendly” deal to either player, Burnes is a Free Agent next year, Henderson after about 4 more years. But Boras with other Oriole clients, Jordan Westburg, and Jackson Holliday, is going to be an important figure for baseball’s future in Baltimore and a lot of other franchises too.

You may not like Scott Boras, but his clients do.

He’s just doing his job. And he does it better than anyone in his profession, and it’s not even close.

[Can_of_corn]

I love the Hubris.

I WOULD NOT HAVE ALLOWED.

Dude, he would have fired you.

Ohtani knew exactly what he was doing.  He knew he could have got more up front money, he didn't want up front money.

I do agree that it was a great deal for the Dodgers and said it at the time.

 

And Scott....just an FYI, Ohtani's contract isn't worth 700M, it's closer to half that.

Edited Monday at 23:40 by Can_of_corn

[Frobby]

I have never had any problem with Scott Boras.   We’ll see how he does with Rubenstein and Elias, but it’s not his job to facilitate dynasty-building by the Orioles.  His job is to get the best deal for his clients, considering the clients’ objectives.   

[Can_of_corn]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I have never had any problem with Scott Boras.   We’ll see how he does with Rubenstein and Elias, but it’s not his job to facilitate dynasty-building by the Orioles.  His job is to get the best deal for his clients, considering the clients’ objectives.   

I have limited issues with Boras.

I do think he took advantage of someone in decline with the Davis deal.

I also don't like how he'll let's say experiment with someone like Carter Stewart.  He also seems to let his less coveted clients hang in the breeze some years. 

I think he's a great agent if you are one of the top players in a given FA class.

[Sanfran327]

49 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I love the Hubris.

I WOULD NOT HAVE ALLOWED.

Dude, he would have fired you.

Ohtani knew exactly what he was doing.  He knew he could have got more up front money, he didn't want up front money.

I do agree that it was a great deal for the Dodgers and said it at the time.

 

And Scott....just an FYI, Ohtani's contract isn't worth 700M, it's closer to half that.

I see this sentiment tossed around here when the topic of agents and/or Boras comes around, and I just laugh. Nobody is firing Scott Boras to sign the contract they want to sign. I'm sure players have fired him before for numerous reasons, but when push comes to shove, I'm sure he's never actually stood in the way of a player signing a deal they are comfortable signing. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Sanfran327 said:

I see this sentiment tossed around here when the topic of agents and/or Boras comes around, and I just laugh. Nobody is firing Scott Boras to sign the contract they want to sign. I'm sure players have fired him before for numerous reasons, but when push comes to shove, I'm sure he's never actually stood in the way of a player signing a deal they are comfortable signing. 

Right, because that "I would not have allowed" is a load of crap.

 

[Too Tall]

PASS

[24fps]

Thanks for sharing this.

My only quibble is you failed to point out that Rubenstein is only one of several billionaires in the Orioles new ownership group.  Boras has every reason to be happy with this particular changing of the guard.  That said, I don't expect Elias to allow himself to be taken advantage of, and I'll be very surprised if Boras tries to bypass him going forward.

[Sanfran327]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Right, because that "I would not have allowed" is a load of crap.

 

1,000%, of course it is. Pure hyperbole/flex. 

[Il BuonO]

Tell me again how well he did for his higher profile clients this past off season. 

I’ll wait. 

Edited Tuesday at 03:32 by Il BuonO

[now]

1 hour ago, 24fps said:

Thanks for sharing this.

My only quibble is you failed to point out that Rubenstein is only one of several billionaires in the Orioles new ownership group.  Boras has every reason to be happy with this particular changing of the guard.  That said, I don't expect Elias to allow himself to be taken advantage of, and I'll be very surprised if Boras tries to bypass him going forward.

That's an intriguing nexus of decision-making going forward: Elias - Rubenstein + the rest of the ownership group. I'm assuming Rubenstein trusts Elias with the baseball decisions; yet with contracts coming up these turn back to how much the owners will front him. I wonder if anyone here has more insight/reporting to share on that balance of power in these upcoming decisions (beginning probably with the trade deadline).

[baltfan]

No issues with Boras other than at times his hubris has hurt his clients.  He definitely hurt Montgomery and Snell. He likely cost them millions of dollars as they both were coming off career years and both will be older and coming off much worse years when it comes time for their next contracts. 

[Hallas]

I generally thought Boras was off his rails earlier in my life, but as the sport's finances have become more transparent I think it's become clear that he has some valid points and there seems to be a concerted effort by MLB ownership groups to make sure his clients don't get paid to reduce his influence in the sport.  MLB player salaries as a percentage of publicly known revenue has been shrinking for a while, and are quite a bit less than the NFL right now.  This is something that could have gotten fixed in the last CBA but the players unwilling to strike, and they're also toeing a hard line against a salary cap (even though the luxury tax has effectively capped salaries for the richest teams) and simultaneously aren't advocating for a salary floor (which allows teams like the A's and 2019-2021 Orioles to field major league teams for peanuts.)  I agree with the take that Shohei's deal was a pretty stark underpay given the amount of money deferred.  It's possible that the players don't really care about getting richer at the top end, so they're just content taking below-market deals like this one.

 

Based on what we know about MLB teams, pretty much every team can support a payroll in the 120 million range strictly on revenue sharing money and national TV deals, so the fact that 11 teams are south of that number would be concerning if I were a sports agent looking to maximize my client's paychecks.

[24fps]

5 minutes ago, now said:

That's an intriguing nexus of decision-making going forward: Elias - Rubenstein + the rest of the ownership group. I'm assuming Rubenstein trusts Elias with the baseball decisions; yet with contracts coming up these turn back to how much the owners will front him. I wonder if anyone here has more insight/reporting to share on that balance of power in these upcoming decisions (beginning probably with the trade deadline).

The minute Boras, or any agent, successfully does an end-around of any Orioles GM the the minute I start looking for a more rewarding obsession.