This offseason for Major League Baseball has been one of the most frustrating and confusing ones in recent years, and one of the main reasons for that is Scott Boras. Boras is a popular agent among MLB players and was previously known as one of the best in the business. He has a reputation of getting more for his players by squeezing teams to overpay and give more than their market value would suggest, but this offseason has not gone well for his clients.
Headed into February, Boras had the top four remaining free agents under his control: Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. All of them, with the possible exception of Chapman, were expected to earn lucrative multi-year deals that would make his players set for the rest of their careers. That is not what these deals have been shaping out to be.
Currently, only two of the top four of Boras’ clients have signed to deals, with Bellinger re-signing with the Chicago Cubs and Chapman joining the San Francisco Giants. Bellinger, who is only 28 years old, entered free agency in his second consecutive season. After winning the NL Comeback Player of the Year award, he and his camp were projecting a $200 million deal this offseason. Sadly for him, Bellinger didn’t get the money he thought he deserved. On Feb. 25, he agreed to a three-year $80 million deal to go back to Chicago, with opt-outs after each of the first two years. With this style of contract, Bellinger has the option to rejoin the free agency pool next season for his third straight offseason of being a free agent, which is not the job security he and his camp were looking for.
Arguably, Chapman did end up with a decent contract when he signed with the Giants on March 2, but his contract features the same opt-outs. While Chapman joins a revamped San Francsico team along with Jung Hoo Lee, Robbie Ray, Jorge Soler and Jordan Hicks, his contract was yet another three-year deal for the Boras Corporation, this time for $54 million with opt-outs after the first two years. However, unlike Bellinger, Chapman at least got a fourth-year mutual option for $20 million that can be exercised for 2027.
This leaves two of Boras’ biggest clients left on the market: Snell and Montgomery. The pitching market this offseason has gone rather slowly, as even as we enter March, there are still plenty of players available. Snell is coming off an NL Cy Young Award while Montgomery is coming off a World Series championship with the Texas Rangers. At the beginning of the offseason, it appeared that Snell had been searching for a $200 million deal and Montgomery had wanted a “Carlos Rodon” type deal (6yrs/$162 M). As the market winds down, teams don’t seem to be willing to answer those asking prices and the players might have to resort to short-term higher AAV deals and enter free agency again over the next few seasons.
In years prior, Boras has been able to secure long-term contracts that give his players job security. He played a vital role in getting Bryce Harper to Philadelphia, which was a 13-year deal with no opt-outs. Boras helped negotiate the Rangers championship infield from last year and their deals with Texas, getting $500 million combined for Corey Seager (10yrs/$325 M) and Marcus Semien (7yrs/$175 M) with no opt-outs as well. Last season, Boras helped Xander Bogaerts increase his market value almost two-fold. Bogaerts was projected around $160-$180 million on a six-to-seven-year deal. He wound up getting 11 years for $280 million to leave Boston and head to the west coast with the San Diego Padres. The last Boras client I’ll mention is Gerrit Cole. Cole joined the Yankees in 2020 on a nine-year, $324 million deal that some had been critical of at the time. Now coming off an AL Cy Young Award and three straight all-star appearances, it’s hard to say that it hasn’t worked out for both sides.
Long contracts with high AAV have been a staple of the Boras Corporation for years, and this strategy of dragging out free agency into spring training is nothing new to Boras. However, teams seem less afraid of his tactics this offseason, making it so his clients have to settle for smaller deals than they might have wanted.
Many are upset with how long this offseason is taking, even getting to the top of the MLB commissioner’s office. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has openly suggested bringing in a December deadline for free agents, a statement that Boras has scoffed at in interviews. The issue is his clients seem to be upset with this process too. Rumors have spread of Jordan Montgomery’s frustration of remaining unsigned through the beginning of March. It puts stress on the players to adjust to a new ballclub and not have the entirety of spring training to do so. Players need to figure out housing, where to put their kids to school and a bunch of other personal matters that get rushed when a player signs in late February or early March. Through all of this, Boras hasn’t even been able to get lucrative deals for his players this year and I think he will lose clients in the future because of this year alone.