Michael Conforto underwent surgery on his right shoulder earlier this week, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports (via Twitter). Conforto will be sidelined for the entire 2022 season but is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Agent Scott Boras revealed his client’s shoulder problems in late March, saying that Conforto suffered a strain while training in January, but he had since resumed hitting. Just yesterday, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that Conforto still hasn’t been able to throw, and was initially presented with the option of surgery earlier this offseason, but was choosing to hold off on going under the knife. In a follow-up tweet from Heyman, Conforto was deciding between either getting the “cleanup” procedure done now, or waiting until after the season.
Undergoing the surgery now makes sense given Conforto’s still-unsigned status. If he did land a one-year deal with a team for a prorated salary, it is quite possible the shoulder issues would prevent from Conforto from performing at an acceptable level. Coming off a middling 2021 season, a down 2022 season, and then a shoulder surgery in the offseason would essentially crater Conforto’s market in the 2022-23 free agent sweepstakes, whereas now, he can get the surgery and then head into next winter with a slightly cleaner slate.
Sitting out 2022 also removes the qualifying offer as a factor in Conforto’s market. He turned down the Mets’ one-year, $18.4MM QO last fall, and thus any team signing Conforto would have to had to give up at least one draft pick as compensation. Since Conforto now won’t be signing until after the 2022 draft anyway, the attached compensation no longer applies, and players are only eligible to be tagged with the QO once in their careers. (Though the qualifying offer system might be abandoned anyway, pending on international draft negotiations between the league and the MLBPA later this summer.)
Passing on the QO now seems like an error in hindsight for Conforto, and the decision even carried its share of controversy prior to his injury. Conforto hit an unspectacular .232/.344/.384 with 14 home runs over 479 PA with New York last season, leading to speculation that he would either take the qualifying offer, or sign a one-year pillow contract of a similar value. (This was MLBTR’s theory, predicting a one-year, $20MM pact for Conforto on the open market.) With a one-season payday secured, Conforto would then look to bounce back and deliver a season similar to his 2015-20 prime years, thus setting him up for a bigger multi-year contract next winter.
The Marlins, Blue Jays, Yankees, Rockies, Diamondbacks, and Padres all had some level of interest in Conforto this past winter, and up to a dozen teams at least checked in on his services closer to the start of the free agent period. Again, it is easy to say in hindsight that Conforto “should have” signed somewhere earlier in the offseason, though we don’t know what types of actual offers (if any) were on the table prior to the lockout.
Given Conforto’s production prior to 2021, it seems likely that he should be able to land a one-year, guaranteed big league deal in the offseason if he recovers well from his surgery, even if that salary is well south of $18.4MM. Whether he’ll finally land that big multi-year pact remains to be seen, as Conforto will need to post some big numbers to settle any lingering doubts about his health, or his age (he’ll be 31 on Opening Day 2024). In more immediate business, however, Conforto will simply have to focus on rehabbing his shoulder and getting himself fully back up to par.
Well, that explains that mystery.
Your season can’t end if it never began…
Comforto’s arm hurts so bad that he can’t even throw Boras under the bus!
All of our endings are waiting to begin
so yall, Boras was lying, right?
No?
Boras was literally the first to break how Conforto had injured himself. He said there was a market for Conforto, and said that the QO was a less of a factor than the injury.
I don’t see any reason to think Boras has lied here unless you are just 100% sure no team wanted him at all (which would be insane to think).
It was called sarcasm.
Why he didn’t take the QO is just as puzzling as why they offered it??? You hit .232 With 14 bombs and think you’re going to get locked up on a long term deal? $18.4 mil for that was a gift. Boras gave him some poor advice.
He didn’t expect $18.4M for 2022, what he expected was a longer contract that would save him from the risk of an injury like this one cratering his earning potential for possibly the rest of his career. It would’ve been a good decision if he’d signed a 3 year $30M contract before the lockout.
@col_chestbridge
Its not insane to think no team wanted him at a price tag of over $18MM per season, along with the loss of a pick and the adjoining signing pool money. Coming off the season he just had, he wasn’t worth that.
Yeah, you know, like a liar
LOL. Everyonen thinks agents bluff and lie. They never do. Their businesses would be out of business the first time they’re caught.
They always bluff. If they didn’t, no one would hire them. There are always ten interested teams, and always a “mystery” team, and every free agent is in the best shape of his life.
Would you hire an agent that said “Seam is feeling kind of achy, which is why we haven’t received any offers”?
He’s a lawyer. That’s what they do.
@antone I’ve met many attorneys and not a one wasn’t a sleaze. Not one. Always looking for the easy out, always coaching the lie while staying one just _this_ side of the line. The judges I’ve known would, after a drink, admit with a smile to making law, finding ways around the law to get the verdict they wanted… And those are the ‘good’ ones, never mind the B*dens and McConnell, the real scum.
Dark,
That’s spelled ‘yous’.
Shocking
Imagine turning down 18.5 mm to ultimately do nothing!! I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror ( not that I do, I’m not Jonny handsome)
He could have signed earlier for a lot more. Signing with Boras is a gamble. He gambles with the players futures. He usually wins, but when he loses, it’s often big, and he doesn’t suffer, the player does.
NOW it makes sense that he was tied to the Blue Jays…
dude just wanted affordable healthcare
Can’t blame him
Boras did say he was ready to go… just in case teams forgot. Might as well get signed before you dip out on your team to have surgery…
calltothepen.com/2022/04/05/new-york-mets-reminder…
What happened to your boras is lying ‘guarantee’ from yesterday ?
I stand by it. As I said, Boras made the argument he was ready, after making the argument he was injured, and now said he isn’t “able” to take the field. One has to be a lie & apparently one was completely untrue as you are reading here. I also don’t recall guaranteeing anything, but I do believe he lied and stand by that, Dusty.
Hence, Boras tried to get a team to sign a player he knew was injured… Do you really believe that’s acceptable practice? And do you assume he’s telling the truth given the information listed & the article link I posted with Boras attempting to tell teams he is ready to sign?
So: Jan – injury
April – ready to sign
Later April – can’t take the field & needs surgery
Oh man. Fine you hate boras for no reason or some reason, I get it.
But you’re removing all rational thought in order to make an argument. Players, especially free agents, sign deals that are pending physicals. The guy couldn’t even throw a ball, you think the Yankees would have signed him and then said nah don’t worry about the physical, his agent said he’s fine?
The article you sent is an opinion piece with no direct comments from boras just speculation and rumours. That’s the basis for your opinion? You want there to be something shady going on so bad you’re making up a scenario that didn’t happen. He turned down the QO, he got hurt, they figure they could avoid surgery and rehab but it didn’t get better, it sucks but it is what it is, any agent would be better with the power of hindsight
Actually I don’t hate Boras. I typically view him as a business guy who does what his job is. But, yes it is “pending physicals” normally, which is why I assert he’s lying. How can he say the guy is ready to sign who can’t throw a ball?.
– In the article it references John Morosi’s piece with statements from Boras stating Conforto is ready… i didn’t look for Morosi’s article, but it should be easy enough to find – it was referenced in more than one article. Here’s a direct quote from Boras to Morosi on April 4: “ Free agent Michael Conforto is currently in contact with a number of teams, his agent, Scott Boras, said this afternoon. Conforto is currently ramping up his baseball activity.”
If he can’t take the field because he cannot throw a ball at all, how could he be ready to sign? Morosi’s wasn’t the only one that spoke to him either, John Heyman wrote about it as well, although Heyman is… well, you know.
Or he had another MRI, nothing healed, the story has fully broken, so the client decided to get it cleaned up now instead of a fear it would hinder his performance in what would now only be a one year pillow contract
amazing how insistent you are that Boras is screwing with his clients… couldn’t possibly just be that athletes get hurt, and don’t all heal at the same pace….
But hey. Conspiracy theories are way more fun!
Boras lies to sell his client. It’s what salesman, politician and agents do.
It is what it is. He’s good at his job. He wouldn’t be very good if he was honest with these owners and GMs.
“Ramping up baseball activity” does not mean “ready”. In fact, in means the exact opposite. If you’re ramping things up it means you’re still in the process of building your body back up to playing shape after an injury. “Ramping up” generally takes weeks. That’s why spring training is usually a month and minor league rehab stints for players are 2 weeks.
You have to be pretty damn biased to come away from that quote and imply that Scott Boras was intentionally lying about his client’s injury to get a contract. Any team signing him would have done a physical, that gambit wouldn’t even work! And it’s not like Scott Boras is stupid.
There isn’t a doubt he was lying about the extent of the injury. The extent of the injury was hidden for four months. How do you come up with any other conclusion?
Conforto gets hurt four months ago and then it’s announced it’s a season ending injury.
Wake up. Lying is part of the job description. No one is better than Boras at getting teams to bid against themselves and playing GMs off each other. You think he does that by telling GMs the truth. Grow up.
Every agent does it.
He doesn’t screw with his clients. He screws with owners and GMs.
@ Yankee, I have no dog in this squabble nor have you or Dusty irked me in any way. However, maybe Conforto wasn’t being totally honest with Boras and therefore Boras was projecting to the industry that Conforto was fine when he wasn’t. In that case, it’s be on MC not Boras. Just a thought?
@clip, just because Boras wasn’t 100% transparent publicly doesn’t mean he was lying to teams. Completely possible that teams who actually engaged in any discussion were told more specifics about Conforto’s status. Boras would be risking his certification if he lied directly to teams about something like that. Conforto also has every right to be public or not public about his health. No obligation to have any details out there.
Lastly, we’ve seen several pitchers sign contracts while they are injured (TJS) so it’s not like that doesn’t happen either. I think Boras is smart enough to know when he can be misleading and when he cannot and that probably has a lot to do with him being one of the best at what he does.
Who cares if he’s honest with teams, if he’s lying in public statements he’s still…a liar.
Please just think critically for a second about what you’re alleging. You think Scott Boras knew back in January that Conforto was done for the year, and deliberately hid it to get a contract. Scott Boras is a pro, and knows that any signing team would do a physical, and that this injury would cause Conforto to fail that physical. This would be a stupid plan, nearly guaranteed to fail
Or, I would suggest far more likely, is that Boras isn’t a doctor and got some sort of signal from whoever initially treated Conforto that his injury would just be a setback and might not even need surgery. These things happen all the time with big league injuries, where the initial prognosis turns out to be incorrect and the player is out longer than expected.
Clip, This is America in 2022. No one tells the complete truth. An agent’s job is to get the most attractive deal for his clients. Boras has been for the most part very effective doing that. In this case, obviously Conforto would’ve been better off taking the Qualifying Offer, even Ted Williams never batted a 1000.
Dustyslambchops2310 hours ago
article you sent is an opinion piece with no direct comments from boras just speculation and rumours.
=======================================
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. If Conforto was ready to go, why wasn’t he in active negotiations and undergoing a physical? It didn’t make any sense, and that’s what I posted. It’s like going to a job interview, telling them that the drug check would show nothing, but why don’t we hold off a few days.
Boras had to know the injury was serious.
Halo this is such a bad take.
Boras is the top agent in baseball, probably all pro sports. You think if he had a reputation as a liar, especially related to serious injuries, that any owner would engage with him?
Reputation, personal brand and trust is everything to a sports agent, both on the client acquisition side and the deal negotiation side. He wouldn’t be any where to close to this successful if he was who you think he is.
Giants Phan: Yes, that is a very plausible theory as well. My statement wasn’t intended to draw this much of a hardline stance, but given the either or proposition, yes, I believe Boras to have lied. I never asserted there is no other possibilities as Dusty has presumed.
Nonetheless, you’re correct, there are a multitude of other possibilities, many of which we could never begin to explore because of the lack of information.
Col Chesterbridge: I think many of us are thinking critically. If you can’t even throw a baseball how are you ramping any baseball activity up? That’s not a “cleanup” procedure. I’ve played baseball at higher levels; I’ve had shoulder surgeries that were necessary that didn’t even prohibit me from throwing a baseball – I knew there was no way I could sign before that surgery and out the surgery off.
The statements are simply too contradictory to reconcile unless he was directly misquoted which has not been asserted. It’s spin, which is what my initial assumption was.
I don’t doubt Boras would try to get him signed, but to imply he was “debating whether to have surgery” & “open to fielding offers” while “ramping up baseball activity” paints a picture wholly inconsistent with “not able to take the field because he cannot even throw a baseball.”
Before Me: Inconsistent where? It said he cannot throw a baseball at all. That’s not figuring out you need more help over several months… unless you’ve never played baseball, and it is becoming more apparent you have not at any higher levels. You would know immediately.
This is not the type of injury that surprises you. Players do not heal at the same rate, but do they think they’re ready and may not need surgery while not being able to throw take the field at all? Doesn’t make sense, unless you’ve never played the game above little league.
@Yankee Clipper
Yeah, generally if you’re doing some sort of baseball activity, like hitting as Conforto was doing, it means you’re thinking you’re getting closer to being healthy. From literally this article, Conforto rejected surgery earlier in the offseason and had later resumed hitting. This I would think could be accurately described as “ramping up”. And having a player ramp up other things while they baby another injury is actually pretty standard. For my own team, the Guardians, that’s literally what is happening right now with prospect Tyler Freeman. Freeman’s season last year ended with shoulder surgery, and they have him right now in their spring training complex playing simulated games where he does everything but play defense.
So no, that’s not “wholly contradictory” at all. Nothing Boras has actually said was a lie. So the only way you get to “liar” is if you think he lied by omission. But that is a weird position, unless you think Scott Boras has some obligation to give the public a thorough rundown of every bit of Conforto’s rehab. Which it would seem to me is a rather silly thing to think is his job at all.
Col: This is my response because I never intended to hold a trial on Boras’ honesty:
I only said I believe he lied not that everyone else should. So, with that, I base my opinion on the fact that he said they were fielding offers for teams to sign Conforto. If he’s getting ready to play, he absolutely would know precisely where his injury status is. He wouldn’t go from January through April without throwing a baseball at all, in any way. Plus you don’t go from 0-100. There are a multitude of exercises, short throws, & a variety of other pre-season exercises where he *should’ve* known he was completely incapable of throwing a baseball.
Ramping up “baseball activity” is not just hitting – that’s… just hitting, taking some swings. So, he’s either the worst player to walk on the field (in preparation & knowing self/monitoring injury status) or Boras misled the public and/or teams… or, the media simply printed the incorrect information and Boras never bothered to correct misinformation put forth by multiple news sites.
Of course, we cannot say definitively, to the exclusion of all other possibilities, that this is the case. I can only use the published statements of Boras, coupled with the apparent inconsistencies in the language used, without subjectively interpreting his language (baseball activities), and look at his motive (money above all else) to make my determination. Maybe he’s as honest as Abe Lincoln though and he’s just misunderstood.
Boras is a liar. We know.
I think it’s more likely in all of this that Boras lied to the media about the severity of conforto’s injury, but not to teams… if he had, someone would’ve taken a chance on him… I’m sure they all knew how bad it was and surgery was a potential option
If only he accepted that QO coulda had free money
He screwed himself by turning down QO & now the Mets who lost draft pick. And Boras didn’t do him any favors. If he stays with him he’s a bigger fool than he already looks.
Why would Conforto turn down the Mets’ one-year, $18.4MM QO last fall? GREED. Now, instead of sitting out the year injured under contract, he gets nothing.
Cheap one year prove it deal for him next year
Guess Gallo for Duvall it is!
Looking pretty stupid for declining that QO now
If the lack of a contract was the injury, I’d say more bad luck than stupidity.
Doesn’t it say that the injury happened in Jan? So he had plenty of time to sign before the lock out and injury.
So glad he turned down the QO from Mets.
i’m giving you a thumbs up lunchbox because of your username, anyhow i wonder if conforto hurt his shoulder in the back of a volkswagen
I think all Boras was trying to say is that the Easter Bunny at the Menlo Park Mall was more convincing
Hopefully he got the Boras removed from his a$$.
He’s living in your head rent-free.
If I am a team who would’ve signed an otherwise healthy Conforto, I’d sign him right now to a deal that can’t hurt you if he doesn’t bounce back, is a steal or a deal if he does.
2 years/$4M guaranteed w/ escalators in 2023 that can add up to $23M w/ a club option for $24.5M straight up w/ a buyout of $950k that would max out the value at 2 years/$4M if he doesn’t get healthy or isn’t productive in the next 2 years.
Basically you’d pay him $650k or the pro-rated portion of $700k to rehab through 2022, you give him a guaranteed $2.5M for 2023 w/ escalators that could take that up to 1 year/$25.5M and you have that club option for $24.5M so it could wind up being a 3 year/$50.65M deal or if he doesn’t make it back or can’t get healthy you buy him out for $950k and it’s a 2 years/$4M deal.
$4M is nothing to takr a flier on a guy with Conforto’s ceilings and an AAV of $16.9M or so would be perfect for a typical Conforto season.
I agree but don’t think Boras would recommend his client take that type of deal, which is probably why he will remain unsigned. Similar to what clubs do with TJ pitchers though, so it seems like a win-win.
They were aiming for Kris Bryant+ money at the time of the QO…… or 70M+ more than any prior offer he had every received that we know of…
What is so hard for you to understand?
Conforto was never going to get the 18.4m again after he turned down the qo. That is the stupidity, in greatly overvauing his true market value.
Yea I wrote something similar before I read your post. I thought 15-20 over 2 with 2-5 this year. While I’m probably on the very high end no way a boras guys signs your deal
Not going to happen until at least mid-July. Now that it’s guaranteed he’s out for the season, no team is going to give up a draft pick for the right to give him a pillow contract next year. The only team that could consider it now is the Mets themselves, but I still think that’s a long shot.
Problem with that is doing a deal right now means forfeiting the draft pick because of the QO. No team is gonna toss a draft pick for a flyer on Conforto, especially if the pick was making them hesitate to begin with.
If he turned down one year and $18 million as a QO (which would have been a *perfect* deal for him because of his poor 2021 showing), I can’t imagine he’s going to accept a deal like this. Even with the injury changing things, he’s still going to ask for way more than that. He was apparently willing to sit out the whole season already.
So do MLB players have health insurance even if they’re unsigned? Is it a union benefit? Always wondered about that.
Good question.
I know Boras offers his clients a lot. Remember that year where there were a lot of unsigned veterans so they just arranged their own ‘showcase league’ or something? Weird to think about nowadays.
So will Boras pay Conforto some sort of salary this year?
Play one day in the Majors and you get health care for life. It’s an awesome benefit
@mookiesboy Same if you’re born in the nation of Colombia (or 59 other countries)—day one, and you get health care for life that’s free at the point of service. It’s why countries like Colombia, France, Japan, get better health outcomes than the U.S. does.
Speedy recovery, and all the best to Mike. Hope to see you on the field ASAP.
Nice advice to decline the QO, Bore Ass!
Phew Boras better thank Conforto… going under the knife just to protect his agent’s reputation! What a guy!
Guess boras wasn’t lying, eh?
Poor guy; this injury and his turning down of the QO will probably end up costing him at least $50M or more in career earnings. Had he been healthy and performed as he did prior to 2021, he would have been in line to get a 4-5 year offer at around $18M to $20M per year after this season. Not only did he lose out on at least $18.5M in 2022, he’s going to have to sign a much cheaper one year prove it deal at age 31, probably in the $8M range with incentives. Even if he has a bounce back season in 2023, he’ll be looking for a multi-year deal at age 32. He’ll be lucky to get a 3 year offer at that time and it will be for much less than $18M-20M per season as his defensive value decreases with age. He was in line to make close to $100M from 2022-2027, now he’ll be lucky to make $50M over that same period. Tough break for a hard-working player but I’m sure he and his family will still be able to live comfortably the rest of their lives.
He got hurt in January. He could have signed a much larger contract before the lockout. It cost him a lot more than 50 million.
I don’t think he really had that large of a contract out there before he got hurt. They totally misjudged his market
I think it’s going to cost him way more than $50 million. He already turned down a $100-120 million extension from the Mets. Then he turned down the QO. Since he’s making $0 this year, he’s already lost about $20 million (what he could have made with the extension or QO).
Next year, he’s going to get what, one year and $5-10 million? So there’s another $10-15 million he lost already.
Then, only if he performs well in 2023, he can seek a long term deal for 2024 and beyond, but he’ll be 31 by then. What does a deal look like for 31 year old Conforto, with already one major shoulder surgery on his resume?
And will he play well? By the start of 2023, he’ll be a year and a half away from the game and coming off major surgery.
Hindsight is 20/20, but he should have taken the extension last year and had over $100 million and the ability to re-hit the market around age 34 depending on how long the extension offer was.
2 major surgeries, yeah? The shoulder capsule tear, and now whatever this is.
Oh, he’ll be fine. I’m not a Conforto fan but he could eventually help a team like the Twins, Reds or DBacks.
There will be impending FAs that look at this and take deals instead of take on the risk, especially if their platform yr was sketch or if they have an injury history.
As such, it will have a drag on salary increases, to a small degree, but one that didnt exist before.
There already have been. It’s always a risk. Threats why players like Allie’s, Acuna and Franco sign for dimes on the dollars.
It’s also why the Padres should have gotten a discount on Tatis but didnt.
What is it for Tatis–already missed 4 stretches with shoulder troubles? Yikes!
He probably signs a 2 year 15 or 20 mil deal after the draft. Team pays him 2-5 this year and get him next year for 10-15 or something of the like, similar to pitchers coming off a TJ in Ken Giles comes to mind as a recent 1.
With any luck then he can play during the post season if he plays any good to lose out AAA season
No team will sign him during this season.He will have to prove he is healthy, next year before there is any interest in him.
Teams sometimes sign injured players like that. Basically gives a team a chance to sign him before everyone else is in on it. Then you get him for next year. It’s a gamble but teams do it. Usually it’s with pitchers though.
Depends on what he can show after he recovers, but it won’t be in live games. Teams are leery of a guy turning on batting practice pitches in ‘showcases’ these days.
Bye boy.
Anyone know if the shoulder he injured was the same one he tore?
Iirc, I looked it up the first time the injury was mentioned and yes. Same one as the torn capsule from a few years back. Not sure if/how they’d be related.
I also could be wrong. Or Boras could have changed his statement.
Not shocked, I think Conforto can play but Boras is trying to make him one of the only available outfielders next year with no QO. His “season ending shoulder surgery” will make it look like hes fresh and better than ever. Conforto turned down 5 years 125 million and then 1 year 18 mil and now hes left with nothing. Teams saw that hes not clutch and see him as an average player at best
Scott Boras is the WORST player agent ever. He does well for the top 5% guys who would be getting HUGE money no matter the agent, but OFTEN gives bad advice to more average players. If you doubt this, just ask Ryan Franklin(lost around 30+ million), Kyle Lohse(lost around 40 million) and now Michael Conforto, who he advised to decline a 150 million+ dollar offer from the NY Mets, as well as decline the 18+ million dollar qualifying offer……The upside with Scott Boras is getting a HUGE precedent setting contract you would have gotten anyways and then becoming known as a Steroid, PED cheat for the rest of your career.
Boras definitely has his failures, but he’s still one of the best at his job. Just look at how much money he got KB.
Just curious. Who pays for a surgery like this when a player isn’t attached to a team? His agent?
I am not completely sure but I am thinking the MLB Players association medical plan covers them, because we all know that Scott Boras doesn’t pay for anything, not even a single dinner check.
If you’re not a MLB player, I would assume you are not a current union member. The employer is usually the payee of a medical plan and he currently does not have one. I would have to think he has his own insurance at the moment. Regardless, he can afford the tab.
Conforto turned down a 5/125 extension from the Mets. Brass was looking for Bryce Harper money. $400 mil
Boras is bad for the game. Too much influence centres on one person. It would be better if there were 3 or 4 agents looking after the high flyers. Bit of dilution of the top end philosophy.
Another brilliant boras decision accepted by his clients
He was hurt all along haha shame shame everyone knows your name nobody took the bait owners win one for once
Yankees pick up for 2 year $17 million+ hefty incentives.
“Cleanup” sounds minor; missing the remainder of the season does not.
Any type of shoulder surgery can be risky. Hopefully all goes well for him.
If the medicals are fine post the surgery, he likely still gets a one year deal around the QO since the upside is high, but the risk to the team low. He might want to shoot for a two year deal with more total money guaranteed but with a lower AAV and an opt out after year one. Gives him some additional protection if his recovery is slow.
Grichuk puts up similar numbers, is better defensively, and is considered overpaid. Why would Conforto get more?
Not that I like to see anybody hurt. . But Conforto’s greed and lack of understanding of the market certainly doesn’t make me sympathetic.
How does this article not mention the extension offer the Mets threw his way last offseason. I forget what it was (hence it would be nice to see it here plus the relevance of it to this story) but I think it was $100+ mil. Stinky story for a decent player.
And no mention that he popped his shoulder out swinging early as a met. Was it the same one? Was it a different one? Was it the same type of injury? All unknowns. And if known should be in this article.
He gambled and lost. No big deal, it happens…
MuteButton – you got it right, By turning down the QO, he was betting on himself, nothing unusual there. He just didn’t see the injury coming, nobody ever does. Like you said, he gambled and lost, no biggie in the world of baseball.
No biggie, but imho, every time a player plays out and wins big, the press lauds the player for betting on himself. It would be nice if they occasionally mentioned the times these decisions blow up.
Also, it might be a little interesting to examine the logic of the wager. I like Conforto well enough, and the RS kind of needed a RF before adding Story. But he didn’t make sense. It was either a 3-year+ gamble on a guy coming off a bad season, or a more palatable one-year make-good contract, but one that would cost us a draft pick.
Conforto & Boras both had to know that it could be problematic.
“Conforto was deciding between either getting the “cleanup” procedure done now, or waiting until after the season.”
=======================================
In what world does that make sense? If you can’t play without the surgery, then waiting until the off-season will mean you won’t play in either 2022 or 2023.
Scott Boras owes this dude 18 mil plus covered medical the Mets would have covered.
Why? If you hire Boras you’re not accepting a QO and probably not signing till January. Everyone knows that. If anyone was wronged it was Boras. It was Conforto’s responsibility to stay healthy. That didn’t happen and now Boras is working with damaged goods.
None of that changes the fact that he SHOULD have taken the QO. Whether the mistake belongs to Boras or it’s simply the fact that Conforto hired him in the first place, something went wrong.
How do you come to that conclusion? You think he knew he was going to injure himself?
An agent is a paid advisor, but they also aren’t objective. They are less concerned with the individual player than they are trying to always push for the most money.
“Agent Scott Boras revealed his client’s shoulder problems in late March, saying that Conforto suffered a strain while training in January, but he had since resumed hitting.”
Boras has at least one Boras Sports Training Institute I’ve read about, and possibly more. Does anyone know if Conforto was training at a Boras facility when he was injured?
It seems unlikely that he was injured at the end of the 2021 season, since he hit in all four of his last four games from 9/29 – 10/03, including two home runs, and played right field.
Boras has his work cut out for him now. I don’t see anyone signing Conforto long term in the future unless it is VERY incentive laden. .
Conforto bet on himself and he lost. When keeping it real goes wrong. He and Baker Mayfield should get together and have a **** measuring contest.
I would have thought taking the QO would’ve been betting on himself. If he has a monster season he gets a much bigger deal, after banking 18 mil, while postponing the big guarantees. Potato, pot-AH-to I guess.
Another bad bet by The Boras organization. Conforto effectively loses the equivalent of 2 seasons of decent pay. This season without pay. Next season on a “prove he can do it contract”. Which combined with this year’s seven figure contract ($0,000,000.00) will not equal the QO he could have had. Boras always tries to move his clients to different cities because he needs the BS unknown team to bid against his client’s most recent team. Scott’s commission on this one can’t get himself a coffee at 7-11 or Wawa.
so he turned down 18 million so he could sit at home?
Works for me
Nice job Boras. Your client gets no money and will likely sign a prove it deal next year. What an agent he is.
“I’ve got no complaints.” – Corey Seager
Is Boras really responsible for that contract? Do we really KNOW that any other agent wouldn’t’ have gotten a similar deal?
Boras got a nice deal for Semien with the same club. He also did a masterful job of getting Cashman to bid against himself for Gerrit Cole.
Let’s be realistic. Whether you like him or not, Boras is the most successful sports agent in the world. Athletes sign on with him because he gets the big bucks for his clients.
“In 2020, the baseball agent negotiated 13 contracts in excess of $100 million, five of which were above $200 million and two above $300 million. Boras secured a total of $3.2 billion for his clients—30% more than in 2019—netting his Boras Corporation more than $160 million in commissions. Among the biggest: right fielder Bryce Harper’s $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, Gerrit Cole’s $324 million deal with the Yankees, and a pair of $245 million deals that sent Stephen Strasburg to the Washington Nationals and Anthony Rendon to the Los Angeles Angels.”
forbes.com/sites/jasonbelzer/2020/12/22/the-worlds…
I dispute that he gets big bucks for his clients. They’re getting it with or without him and some guys like Conforto get screwed. That being said, an agent does A LOT more for their client than just negotiate salary. But, again, what actually shows that these guys got more because of Boras? His big clients get paid. His other clients it’s hit or miss. Doesn’t sound to me like he’s a huge factor there.
Boras got a nice deal for Semien with the same club.
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Sometimes the magic is simply finding the most desperate teams, with the biggest checkbooks. And then convincing your client that it’s okay to play for a bad team.
Consider what you’re saying, Cosmo. You’re saying his big clients get paid more, but his lesser clients don’t get paid as much.
By what logic would that not be the case?
Is the proof of a great agent that he gets overpays for players with less talent?
Then consider this.
Corey Seager played only 609 games since his first full season in 2016 through 2021, compiling an fWAR of 20.2 over six seasons. That WAR is valued at $161.8M by Fangraphs.
Francisco Lindor, a client of Sportsmeter, played in 777 games between 2015 and 2020 before signing with the Mets, compiling an fWAR of 31.0 over six seasons. That WAR is valued at $248M by Fangraphs.
Both players signed 10-year contracts.
Lindor signed for only $16M more than Seager got.
Whose agent did better?
I wonder about the percentages of games that his big contract players are on the DL…
The Mets lucked out this season with Michael Conforto and last season with Robinson Cano (yes, I consider the suspension lucky).
My Padres should swoop in and sign him to a damaged package deal….NOT…….
AJ Preller WAS interested, that is if the Padres flagship radio station’s hosts were correct.
Bullet dodged. Preller has a surgery scar fet!sh…
Boris was hoping for a deal without a physical, right?