Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery has changed representatives, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The southpaw had previously been with the Boras Corporation but will now be repped by Joel Wolfe and Nick Chanock of Wasserman.
Montgomery, 31, was just a free agent for the first time in the most recent offseason. He was coming off a strong three-year run between the Yankees, Cardinals and Rangers, posting a 3.48 earned run average over 524 1/3 innings. He also added 31 innings in last year’s postseason with a 2.90 ERA, helping the Rangers win their first World Series in franchise history.
Coming into the offseason, MLBTR predicted the lefty for a contract worth $150MM over six years while other outlets were in a similar range. But the offseason free agent market ended up being weaker than projected. The latter half of the winter was defined by the various players who remained unsigned, with the so-called “Boras Four” being the headliners.
Montgomery, Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman, all repped by Scott Boras, were projected for nine-figure deals at the outset of the offseason. But the four of them lingered on the market past the start of Spring Training and each one eventually pivoted to some form of short-term deal. In Montgomery’s case, he signed a one-year pact with the Diamondbacks with a $25MM guarantee. There’s also a $20MM vesting player option for 2025, which is available to Montgomery as long as he makes 10 starts this year. He can also add $5MM more to the value of that option, $2.5MM at 18 starts and $2.5MM at 23 starts.
The southpaw is highly likely to return to free agency again this winter. Even if he unlocks that player option, he probably won’t trigger it unless he’s facing some kind of injury absence, since finding $20-25MM again shouldn’t be tough to do if he has a fairly normal season. He hasn’t yet made his debut with the Diamondbacks since he didn’t agree to terms with them until the end of March and is still getting himself in game shape. He tossed four innings in a Triple-A game on Sunday.
For his second go at free agency, it seems he’s looking for a different approach, hiring Wolfe and Chanock to handle his negotiations. While losing a notable client like Montgomery is tough for Boras, he still figures to play a prominent role in the coming offseason. Each of Bellinger, Snell and Chapman could be free agents again while Boras also represents star players heading into free agency for the first time such as Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso.
So it begins
Nothing will change.
Stephen Drew debacle was 10 years ago and it’s still happening because Boras gets his top guys paid.
Boras didn’t get his top guys paid last offseason. That’s a fact it’s not an opinion.
Most likely nothing will change but if Soto is disappointed (unlikely) or if Alonso doesn’t get what he’s envisioning (very possible), this could be looked at as the start of a change with agent representation.
Well not Montgomery
“Stephen Drew debacle”….The Scott Boras led MLBPA definitely gets “his top guys paid”, but promotes policy that IGNORES the other 95% of the player’s Union. That’s why the union is splintered right now. You’re right though, Scott Boras does get “his top guys paid”, albeit at the expense of the overwhelming majority of the players union.
Wow never thought we see a boras boot licker
Fred – Thank you!! I haven’t laughed that hard in ages!!
Scott’s Top 5 guys ended up with well below market value contracts. .
4 of those 5 guys were rated among the Top 7 of all the offseason’s free agents.
Everyone else in the Top Ten got paid huge bucks.
Sonny Freaking Gray got THREE TIMES MORE THAN MONTGOMERY and $13M MORE THAN THE REIGNING NL CY YOUNG WINNER.
But hey ….. you keep right on living in fantasy land if it makes you happy!
Alonso is not gonna get what he wants in all likelihood.
One dimensional sluggers don’t get paid these days. He might find a 5/100 with a strong year but I really doubt he gets anymore than that.
So which of Bellinger, Snell, Chapman, Soto, Burnes, Alonso, and Bregman will be low man on Boras’ priority list?
I’ll always bring up Boras, attemting to get 4/40m for “tek his last time via FA, nobody biting then late winter Boston signing him for 2/5m.
Staying hard with Boras and GM’s across the game having a backbone helps. ignoring the obvious lies dribbling from his lips like an overflowing tap doesn’t hurt either
@Fever Gray is not making more than Snell. As far as the overall compensation over the next 3 seasons it is absolutely premature to pass judgment at this point. Snell’s total compensation over the next 3 years is unknown so comparing him and Gray now inconclusive.
I’ve gotta say last time I recall you bringing up Boras you admitting to not knowing much about Boras Corporation. Upon calling you out on it you went silent. Yet any chance you get to be critical of him you pounce. So again you are pouncing on something you yourself admitted you are not educated on the details of.
Not trying to be critical here, but just pointing out reality.
Actually, look at the hand he was dealt. Bellinger – No middle ground. When he’s good.. he’s MVP AMAZING… but when he’s bad… he wouldn’t even be a starter on some little league teams. Then there’s Snell, who won a Cy Young… then was essentially a REPLACEMENT LEVEL pitcher for 5 years straight… and then.. big surprise… during his contract year.. he somehow goes from replacement level to winning another Cy Young. Then there is Jordan Montgomery who was so BAD that the Yankees gave him away for Badar. And nobody even knew his name until last year. He’s been in the league for 9 years.. only 4 of those did he manage to pitch over 100 innings, but he still wants Allstar, ace pitcher money?!? And then Matt Chapman, closest thing to consistent that Boras had to work with… but he’s on the wrong side of 30… his WAR gets a heavy padding from his defense which will start declining… and the advance metrics say his offense already is. So I’m confused as to why everyone thinks this is on Boras. Even if they were all 1 year contracts… Boras managed to convince a team to over pay every single one of those guys.
dewey – The tide has been turning for a while, plenty of players have fired Boras.
And Boras tried to sue one of them …. and he lost!
“I felt like I had to win because he was basically suing me because I left him and he was trying to collect money without having done anything for me. It’s not the money. It’s the intention. Scott Boras had to do something that wasn’t right. If I haven’t done anything for you, haven’t negotiated your contract, how could I sue you and try to collect money because you left me and because you hired another agent? That didn’t make any sense to me.” — Carlos Beltran
Tigers – Can you please try to be more clear when communicating.
By “making more” do you mean AAV? I would hope not, because we all know total guaranteed NPV of contracts is what’s most important.
There’s a million sources to back up what I wrote, I won’t continue to do your work for you.
Me silent? That’s a new one! Haha!
I’ve said this many times, maybe you’ve missed it …. I don’t do the email notification therefore I sometimes miss responses to my posts. But bringing it up under newer columns is fine.
Yes neither I nor you know exactly how involved other Boras Corporation employees are with each particular client. If I remember correctly, you claimed Scott’s son is just as good an agent as Scott was. Can you please provide a link, I’d like to learn more about him and his current involvement with client contracts.
@Fever I replied to you the same way I did here and you were silent. And no email is necessary, we both know there is a notification alert in top right corner.
You had claimed that Boras was done and time had passed him by. I mentioned that his so was an agent working under him, one of many employees. Did I claim he was just as good, no I did not say that specifically.
You can Google “Boras Corporation”, for how obsessed with the man you are it seems invested 3-5 minutes should not be an issue.
And no guaranteed $ is not all that’s important. Just as ask Bryce Harper who noe wants more but has absolutely no leverage and nowhere in future to extend to that is of value of that MLB will except.
Tigers – FINALLY you posted something of value. No, I didn’t know about the alerts.
Again YOU made the claim, therefore it’s up to YOU to provide the support. I suppose you expect your Mom to do your homework for you as well.
I wrote MOST important, not the only thing that’s important. Please take a remedial reading class, it will help you interact with others here.
@Fever You made the claim that it was the worst offseason ever by an agent before I even made a comment. I then asked you to validate this with some fact. So here is your chance to do something other than deflect.
You have this strong disdain for Boras yet you ve admitted knowing little about Boras Corporation, the company actually representing these players. I believe it was also you arguing for Bauer and trying discredit the must publicized accuser. When asked of the first 2 accusers from Ohio, admitted to again not knowing.
Just pointing out common themes here. You seem to vehemently be entrenched into positions yet only provide opinions, allude to things, or half truths. Yet when called out this is the 2nd time you ve used the email excuse.
Typical of someone who doesnt want to debate, when called out on deflecting or going silent all of a sudden(regardless of email) you come out cus damned if you ever are perceived as wrong.
This will be the last time I point it out. Just find it laughable you flat out admit to knowing little about a topic, yet here you are so entrenched in an opinion. Do you not see how that’s kind of odd??
Go ahead the keep wasting your time complaining about Boras. He ll just be out enjoying life spending his hundreds of millions….
I’ve seen Boras work since at least the early 90s. He’s a former Minor League player who saw how players who struggle to get to the majors and even the ones who don’t, need to maximize their earnings and that the owners need to be prodded to spend it.
I disliked his attempts at circumventing the draft back around 97-98 I think. There were 4 players he tried to get out of having them play for the teams that drafted them. This was due to some admin errors made by the teams. He wanted the system to go back to the days of whoever can pay the highest bonuses. You know back when the big market teams dominated the leagues pre 1965.
He did a great job in getting Darren Driefort paid. An overrated pitcher who would fit in today’s game as a starter since he could barely go 6 innings a start back in the mid 90s.
There’s an agent in the NFL now who is in the sane vein as Boras. Represents Jessie Bates and Tee Higgins.
I don’t side with owners at all because there are plenty who shouldn’t be owners and are barely trying. Boras came on the scene at a time when owners main goal was to break the players and the Union after what happened in 1981.
Coys – It’s interesting that you feel the need to “take sides”.
Most of us don’t. Most of us are simply pointing out that Boras had probably the worst offseason of any agent ever. And when I say worst, I mean his clients got far far less than what they should have and likely would have with a different agent.
It’s not taking sides, it’s just stating facts. He ain’t what he used to be.
@Fever which agent in particular would have got any of these players higher AAV and why specifically?? Which bad offseasons by agents are you comparing Boras’s offseason to??
It’s easy to make these vague claims with zero specifics. Why don’t you back them with some fact. You ve already admitted to knowing nothing of the makeup of Boras Corporation.
If you are gonna present opinions as fact, why don’t you support these facts??
Are you really trying to defend the deals that Boras got Snell, Montgomery, Bellinger, Chapman, Martinez, etc.?
AAV is great, but lesser (or at least comparable) players got the same or higher AAVs and/or more years in almost every case.
Scott Boras absolutely screwed his clients this past offseason, forcing all of them to put up all-star numbers again in 2024 to get the deals they should have gotten this past offseason or settle for short-term deals that could greatly limit their lifetime earning potential in the event of injury or decline.
Boras completely misread the market and his clients are paying for it. There’s a reason Montgomery fired him. A lot of others should too.
Tigers – I’m sorry but I don’t have the time to teach you the difference between statements which can be quantified and discussions in which only views/opinions can be expressed.
I’ll do my best to help you though.
Which agents would have likely gotten a higher AAV?
CAA Sports
Paragon
McKinnis
Mato
Wasserman
Why specifically? Because they are more reasonable in their demands, they don’t stall negotiations until after ST begins, they successfully negotiated very large contracts this past offseason, and they have a better reputation. Obviously Montgomery feels that way, as he switched to Wasserman.
Bad offseasons – Give another example where 4 of the Top 7 free agents were all represented by the same agent, and all those players went into ST without a contract, and all those players received far less than everyone anticipated. In fact Boras had 5 clients in the Top 25, and ALL OF THEM went into ST without a contract and eventually received short term contracts.
I’ve posted the above probably at least 5 different times over the past month. If you are 5-second-Freddy and can’t retain any memory, then I feel sorry for you. Otherwise I hope you realize you can’t continue to troll me. I bring a mountain of facts to support my views nearly every time.
But it’s Friday so I’m letting your false accusations slide :O)
@Fever
I knew you’d bite, now you can use Google to provide examples of other agents. You just dismiss it as you don’t know much when necessary and that’s that.
So are you going to memtion wich specific bad offseasons you are comparing to and not deflect??? It is not providing a fact when you ignore answering and they and deflect.
No not everyone by any means did all agree on how much these players would get paid. Nor does a bunch of fan speculation matter either as far as the value of any player. We are not the ones contractually bound to pay these players.
Tigers – Your first paragraph makes no sense. Agents can be easily viewed on BR, but I’m familiar enough with many of them therefore I don’t need to check BR.
No, for once YOU put some effort in. I said it was probably the worst offseason ever for an agent. If you think I’m wrong, then it’s up to YOU to prove me wrong by coming up with another agent who had a worse offseason. Stop being so damn lazy.
There are plenty of articles by reputable baseball websites in which they reference expected contracts, look them up yourself. Stop being lazy.
Some years Boras does really well, this year he blew it. This is not a systemic problem and some of his clients will leave. No big deal.
Boras is simply taking advantage of a market. But the market will eventually dictate the terms.
Manny – No matter how big they are, the mighty eventually fall.
I remember some repeating your exact words about 20 years ago when the biggest and most powerful accounting firm “blew it” with a client.
“This is not a systemic problem and some of their clients will leave. No big deal.”
The firm’s name? Arthur Andersen. Google ’em.
Just curious, at what age will he be before you finally admit he ain’t what he used to be? 80? 90? 110?
That’s how it starts, one client leaving. We will see in future years whether he adapts his negotiating tactics, or whether it is a systematic problem.
Traded for Harrison Bader in a wheelchair and bought Boras hype?
If he had done that months ago he would have gotten a much better deal
Rsox: When you decide on an agent, you trust them to get the best deal possible. Boras has gotten a lot of players big contracts but he really stabbed the “Boras Five” in the back. He promised them big, multi-year contracts and we know what happened there. I’m sure they were freaking out as ST ended and they still weren’t signed. He sold them a bill of goods and the players paid for it. Boras convinced them to wait and wait and wait, but he’ll be alright. There will always be players who will still hire him.
His strategy and their overestimated worth was all wrong and a bad combination. By the time they got around to executing the strategy, much of the money available was gone and the selection of teams was minimized. In defense of SB, these guys weren’t exactly the best of FAs that teams would normally pay out for. Each of them have a history of either inconsistency or injury that certainly was going to impact interest. Good players, but too inconsistent to give out the contracts they were rumored to be seeking.
Boras couldn’t use the “mystery team” strategy this year because he waited too long and so many possible landing places for his FAs had already announced their budgets were filled.
Very true, he has gotten many free agents big and long deals, but he has misplayed many of the next level tier two guys into shorter deals with less guaranteed dollars, and then their subsequent season’s free agency has gotten then less than the first year’s FA contract.
THIS YEAR Scott’s biggest mistake was
Misjudging the impact of the TV rights fiasco. There was going to be less money available in a lot of teams budgets than had been there in previous years. And the waiting game strategy suffered because of it.
In offense of SB, its his job to know how the market and his clients fit together. Is he marketing himself to the players as an agent that needs perfect players to get the deal done?
In fairness, Snell should have taken the Yankees’ 6/$150.
We won’t know the extent to which Boras counselled him against doing so, but it’s the player’s decision in the end. Snell should have read the room better.
and perhaps (perhaps!) some business, finance, economics books, etc
If it was really offered in good faith. At the time, everyone knew Snell would not accept the Yankees offer. When they refused to further negotiate and pivoted, he was stuck.
Dewey – That’s generally how the Yankees have operated. Make a fair market offer up front, take it or leave it. If you leave it, Yanks move on to Player B.
Boras should have known that.
I think much of what you said is/was true. I think in Montgomery’s case, he must’ve had a “solid” deal on the table early on in the off-season, a multi-year deal that he was more than comfortable signing, but Boras advised him to hold off on signing it bc he thought he “would” be able to get either a better/longer deal or the same deal from another preferred team or something along those lines. So Montgomery took his advise and waited, only for said team to then sign another SP and/or pull the offer off the table leaving Boras(and Monty) with their (blank) in their hands. Now bc of the bad advise Boras gave his client, he had no choice but to sign a short-term deal with far less financial security and stability. Something major must’ve happened for Montgomery to change agents so soon after he just signed a new contract with the D-Backs. I mean he must’ve started looking for a new agent as soon as the ink dried on his deal with the D-Backs.
Yes, it’s hard to miss the message here.
Generally you play your hand if you change representation during negotiation.
A lot of Clowns will happily see this as the end of Boras, since he’s so bad for the sport etc. but they fail to realize that even if every client fires him, they’re hiring another agent who will ALSO try to get them max $$$. The game has not changed, and the weird hate for boras is so misplaced.
Oh, c’mon, that guy sucks.
Dude, I love the bluntness of this response. Almost made me fall out of my chair XD.
Not a partaker myself, but MAN your post is way too funny as much as your name is great. As a Phillies fan fron the 70’s on, loved Bake!
Boras is uniquely aggressive and arrogant. As an attorney myself I don’t see this as an inherently bad thing. However, as a baseball fan I do dislike how his methods drag free agency into spring training and the season, and how the contracts he pushes for – because he is so damn good at his job – routinely end up catastrophes for clubs. He’s generally bad for fans, good for players. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the man and I think your comment acknowledges that the majority of fans dislike him as a result. It doesn’t have to mean anything more than that. He’s not evil. He’s not immoral. He’s just a powerful agent who represents his clients to the best of his ability. He does his job. And that necessarily bothers most fans. The end. Nbd
danumd
“He’s generally bad for fans, good for players”
LOL
He over prices his players and the owners are as tired of him as the fans are.
He is immoral. He is known to fabricate stories via his pocket journalists to drum up interest. He’s flat out telling them to lie on his behalf. I have zero respect for that level of greed.
yl
Getting more money for labor is IMMORAL!
Getting paid, but not providing the expected result, in many occupations leads to lawsuits. There would be no problem if teams received the results expected. I see Javy Baez not being a positive aspect on the Detroit Tigers. I see Scherzer being well worth the money Washington paid him as a FA. Mets fans may feel differently about his tenor there. How well they are compensated isn’t a problem if the player holds up their end.
You nail it. Its not that we as fans dislike Boras because we are on the owners side as some tried to put us on, either on one basket (players) or the other (owners). The third side is the (fans) that we know that every extra million that Boras extracts from owners, is a less million to fill the roster by the FO because the budget don’t change, and the team has holes in other areas. Maybe team increase the budget in the first year or two, but then go back to reality.
Pepe
“we know that every extra million that Boras extracts from owners, is a less million to fill the roster by the FO because the budget don’t change”
You can blame the players for trying to maximize their earnings
What do you do? Do you feel a need to make less money do customers of yours can get better service/products?
Or you can blame the owners for not making a bigger budget
Or you can realize businesses have budgets. I root for my city’s team. I will cheer my favorite players but if the team doesn’t do well, the players stats and earnings are secondary. Unless those stats contributed to the team not doing well. Then their earnings become a factor. If Joe Adell, making close to minimum, did not produce, he can be replaced. If Javy Baez, making $28MM, did not produce, the team is stuck with him for another year.
stymee
Let me rank these things in order of their importance to me
1) workers getting paid fairly for what they produce
2) my happiness about a sports team
99999999) some billionaire’s budget meeting their budget
Your Mileage May Vary
This is a silly hierarchy as a fan. Sports are entertainment. Most fans care first and foremost about being entertained … and they should. No one is looking out for or cares about the fans’ interests in these squabbles between billionaires and millionaires. No one. Why fans get so invested in one side of the other as an ethical/moral issue is beyond me.
And underachieving players making orders of magnitude more than their production says their worth is by definition not “getting paid fairly.” Fair pay would be based on value added. By that definition, most young players are way underpaid and most older players are way overpaid. Both ownership and labor are exploiting the system in different ways.
Billionaire owners suck in most cases, especially those of most “small market” teams in MLB. But they don’t suck because they won’t allow their GMs to sign Scott Boras’ clients for way more than they’re actually worth. Those contracts hurt teams’ ability to build competitive/championship rosters. I don’t know why fans would side with Boras or ownership. And here’s the great part. You don’t actually have to.
DY
“Sports are entertainment. Most fans care first and foremost about being entertained”
Entertainment is much less important than social issues. Thus, people should care more about societal issued.
“No one is looking out for or cares about the fans’ interests in these squabbles between billionaires and millionaires. ”
This is a dumb phrasing that benefits owners and harms labor. YOU are most likely labor
“Why fans get so invested in one side of the other as an ethical/moral issue is beyond me.”
Telling. People should definitely care about ethical/moral issues
The labor disputes between billionaire owners and millionaire players have no material impact on me or anyone else in my tax bracket — except for when their inability to reach an agreement causes a work stoppage or dramatic increases in the cost of game attendance.
Getting as invested in them as you seem to be and trying to turn them into a moral referendum is virtue signaling, plain and simple.
All I want as a fan is for the season to be played as scheduled every year and for my team to field a competitive/entertaining product. I feel no moral obligation whatsoever to concern myself in the contract negotiations of or pretend to share common struggles with people who make more in hours or days than my family does in a year.
I want my team’s owner to spend enough to win and my team’s players to play up to their contracts. How many zeros appear beyond the dollar sign is their business/concern, not mine.
DY
“billionaire owners and millionaire players”
Again, dumb phrasing that only benefits capitol by pitting labor against itself
“trying to turn them into a moral referendum”
It’s a moral referendum.
“All I want as a fan is for the season to be played as scheduled every year and for my team to field a competitive/entertaining product. I feel no moral obligation whatsoever to concern myself in the contract negotiations ”
Acting against your own next interests. A laborer not caring about laborers, just wanting the product for yourself.
I case you haven’t realized, I word it that way intentionally because I simply disagree with you.
There is no solidarity between the millionaire entertainment class and working class individuals living and supporting their families paycheck to paycheck. They’re closer in priorities, values and struggles to the owners you hate than they are to me.
So I’m not going to waste my limited bandwidth fighting their labor disputes. They’re doing just fine without me.
My relationship with the players — as with any other performer — is strictly transactional. I spend my time and entertainment dollars to watch them play, they entertain me with their talents.
I’m not against them making as much money as they can. But I’m not and will never be morally invested in it.
DY
This is (in part) why labor is so far behind in the US – capitol, with its increased power and influence, can divide labor.
“I spend my time and entertainment dollars to watch them play, they entertain me ”
And your money on food, goods, basic services. You get just what you need and didn’t care about the people who get it to you
That you continue to equate millionaire athletes and working class service workers illustrates the flaw in your point … and that you’ve completely missed mine.
Those two groups are not the same. The only perceived solidarity between the two is imaginary. Major League Baseball players making more money does absolutely nothing to help those in the labor force actually struggling to make ends meet.
In fact, the only practical impact of higher payroll costs is more albatross contracts and increased cost associated with game attendance, neither of which is a positive for the average fan.
Like I said above, I have no problem with baseball players fighting to maximize their earning power/potential, but that’s for them to negotiate with the owners and their proxies. Fans have no moral obligation whatsoever to prioritize players’ earning power over the health/financial flexibility of their favorite team or their own enjoyment of the sport.
DY
Let me try something
That you continue to pretend that millionaire athletes and working class service workers aren’t both labor illustrates the flaw in your point … and that you’ve completely missed mine.
Huh
DY
Let me try something else
Consumers have no moral obligation whatsoever to prioritize laborers’ earning power over the health/financial flexibility of the companies that they purchase from
Huh
You’re making a rote solidarity argument, which — like any that tries to make one aspect of a person’s identity the whole of their identity — is exploitative by its nature.
We simply disagree that fans of sports teams have a moral obligation to prioritize player pay over their team’s win total and entertainment value. And we’re not going to agree. And that’s OK.
Consumers have no moral obligation to prioritize worker pay over the quality of the service or product they are receiving. Commerce is, by definition, a transactional relationship. And all transactional relationships are conditional. My only obligation in a transactional relationship is to fulfill whatever commitment I’ve agreed to at its outset. Additional support is conditional upon my satisfaction with the service or product received.
My bar for satisfaction is pretty low, and I think all full-time employees who show up to work and do a reasonable job should be paid a fair, living wage. But I feel no obligation to fight for a business or the employees of a business that don’t deliver on the transactional agreements they enter into with their customers.
This brings us back to sports being an entertainment product. Entertainment products exist to entertain. If a sports team or league is not delivering on that transactional agreement, I feel no obligation to support the owners or players responsible for their failure to meet reasonable consumer expectations.
If I’m going to offer blanket support for any group, it’s going to be consumers, who are spending their limited resources and have a right to receive and expect what they pay for. After that, I like to see the businesses and employees that offer quality service, products and value rewarded monetarily. But it’s in that order. Not all labor is equal. Nor is my obligation to it.
What is the difference between a client questioning their own counsel in a productive fashion versus a counterproductive fashion?
Good point Scott, what’s your next move?
Lots of confirmation bias. Boras loses and gains clients every year. ARod went with Goldman Sachs (lawyers) after infamously opting-out during the WS.
How does Scott’s show taste?
Yes, because all agents operate exactly the same. Just like all lawyers are the same, all doctors are the same, and so on. Boras had a good long run and was extremely effective for decades, but his methods aren’t as effective anymore. It happens to players too, he’s past his prime and he’s just not the best any more…. If a player constantly pulls the ball, defenses shift and adjust. Front offices apparently do to.
That isn’t necessarily true, some agents prefer their clients to extend vs testing free agency.
I’m curious in grand scheme of things how it turns out money wise, players who extend vs players who test free agency.
You think for every player who ends up signing a “team friendly deal” you have a Eloy Jimenez or Yoan Moncada who would have gotten a fraction of their deal in free agency. Or for every Harper, who turned down extensions rumors from the Nats you have the Javy Baez’s and Kris Bryant’s who lost money going to free agency.
I will say this though, if I was an agent I could never I’m good conscience recommend a pitcher not sign an extension.
So are you saying it’s completely coincidental that the major free agents who were seeking long-term deals and didn’t get them were all Boras clients? Strictly coincidence? It’s a fact that each of these five players settled for a contract (years and salary) significantly less than they would have gotten had they signed in February. They were given terrible advice—all by the same individual. This is not coincidence.
I made 0 claims about his style, his effectiveness or his personhood lol. he clearly had a bad off-season, for sure! but nobody bats 1.000. I think he’s a scapegoat for a lot of fans who just cannot grasp the evolving economics of baseball and need a boogeyman to blame. He doesn’t force teams to spend too much on 1 player, he doesn’t have any effect on ticket prices and the overall changes to the contracts in baseball are more than a one agent issue.
@woodhead1986 He’s absolutely the scapegoat for a lot of fans. It’s his job to take the heat. If the three Jackson prospects playing today were Boras clients, he’d have even more detractors. It will also be highly probable that they each won’t be on their respective teams after the next six years. Fans are fiercely loyal to their teams and form emotional attachments to players understandably. However, players don’t necessarily reciprocate the same sentiments and you won’t hear it directly from them. The anti-Boras folks aren’t going to change how they feel about him.
Another boras bootlicker shut up dude if u don’t boras deserves the hate he gets
Nah
Found Boras’ burner account
Boras is done lol
His net worth is 450M I think he will be just fine. And younger stars will use him to get their $ then go elsewhere after.
He said he was done, not poor.
But he’s not done. He still reps something like 60 current players. For every big name signed to his agency like Cole, Snell, and Bellinger, he reps a mediocre player like Jo Adell, Touki Toussaint, and Michel Baez.
The point is that his days of having a monopoly over every top FA player are over which is good for both the players and teams.
Ippei called and asked if Boras was looking for an interpreter.
Borass failed and yet claimed victory. Proves he is a phony and lies to hurt baseball. The clowns are the ones supporting this POS.
At least im not foaming at the mouth over a guy I’ll never meet, who helps players earn the money they are entitled to, taking more money from ownership in a sport you’re supposedly a fan of. He hurts baseball how? Please don’t trot out the ticket price argument either, it’s as worn out as your rainbow wig
He hurt baseball because his clients were not playing MLB on opening day. And for no other reason besides greed.
I’m sorry, but NO ONE is entitled to that kind of money.
They generated the revenue, they deserve it. Not the billionaires.
You make the statement “taking more money from ownership” and you claim I’m not a fan? His lies hurt baseball because he is dishonest and sleazy. He hurts baseball’s reputation. Oh, and I’m not foaming at the mouth, but it appears there is something of Borass’ stuck in yours.
Baseball’s reputation? Lol ok. By the way, you’re making a lot of homoerotic references, anything you wanna share? It’s a safe space here
It’s not safe with you around, btw. I think we’ll need to keep our kids away from your idiocy. Can’t have you touching or indoctrinating them. So you deny the sport of baseball has a reputation? I am sure you enjoy going to the ballpark in your woke city with all your woke friends since you don’t think reputation is a thing.
As he should. The contract he got was laughable thanks to Boras delusions. Dbacks signed a worst pitcher for almost 3x the money in the same offseason
Are we sure it was Boras delusions and not Montgomery? I’m sure if Montgomery was offered ERod’s deal, he laughs at the team.
I dislike Boras, but I don’t think Montgomery would have taken a deal for less than 100MM.
Joemo. Except Montgomery did take less than $100 million. A lot less actually.
Yes for a one year deal because the guys other option was not pitching.
Let me explicitly spell out my post for you.
ERod’s deal is for 4/80. If a team offered Montgomery that same deal at the same time, he works have laughed at them. I think he might have considered something like 4/100.
100% agree, Joemo. Also, Snell rejected 6/$150M. We have no idea if Boras suggested he sign that or not. It’s up to the player. Boras is just a mouthpiece for the players’ desires.
If Boras was just doing what Montgomery wanted him to do why would Montgomery now have a new agent?
You’ld have to ask Montgomery. Could have just liked the sales pitch his new firm sent him. Could have been pissed with comments Scott made about his situation that he felt should not be public. Could be what you imply, that he felt Scott did not give him effective representation. We have no idea. Montgomery didn’t feel it necessary to tell us.
The fact that he looked for and found a new agent just a couple weeks after signing is clear as day evidence he wasn’t happy with Boras.
Suck it, Boras!
People have been saying Boras is finished for years but he’s still around. The mid tier free agents might move away from him but the elites are still going to use him
And new high-pick draftees.
Yup, anyone who stands to get paid at the top of the market will continue to use Boras and will continue to receive mega deals. It seems the mid tier guys need to accept reality rather than blaming Boras
Except most of Boras’ clients are mid tier guys. Always have been. He has a full portfolio of players of all degrees of experience and skill. As any large agency would. This “Borass only works for the 1%” trope is misguided at best.
It’s like, what do you think his stance is for guys coming out of the amateur ranks? Do you look at how he handled Bryce Harper and draw your assumptions? For each Harper he had, there’s a dozen kids he told to go to college and take the free higher education.
There’s more to this guy than the look at me douchbag you see clips of interviewing. And don’t kid yourself, every guy interviewing him is gunning for those clips so they can get your views on their post.
I wasn’t being negative towards Boras. I was suggesting the Monty type players that he represents adjust their expectations
Lol
I dislike Borass as much as anyone, but he will figure out the new realities and adjust to them. The game changed with more teams facing upper tiers of the competitive balance tax regimen and other teams questioning their revenue projections (Diamond Sports contracts).
It’s his job to see the change considering he’s been the person making the change. He failed to see it with his ego in the way.
I don’t know how many times it needs to be said, padam, but Boras doesn’t reject offers, his clients do. Snell rejected 6/$150M, not Boras. And we have no idea if Boras recommended he take that or not, but either way, he follows player instructions.
FWIW, Snell also apparently didn’t want to pitch on the east coast. There is a lot that goes into contract negotiations and discussions that the public isn’t privy to, and for some reason some people think it’s only about years and dollars, and that the agent makes the decision, which is simply not factual.
myaccount2 – and I don’t know how many times it needs to be said but the players are most likely rejecting the offers at the guidance of Boras. He sells the players that they will get a magical deal that doesn’t end up transpiring.
A telling move.
Pretty sure Monty didn’t appreciate the way his free agency played out this past off-season. Normally the big free agents flock to Boras Corporation, not the other way around to my recollection.
Lol i said all of boras clients gonna fire him
None of ya’ll amateurs thought it was gonna happen
Boras is finally finished
Little bit cocky and premature for having ONE of his clients fire him. Calm down.
Keep living in lala land
Keep living in la la land where Boras still has over 60 clients… wait, that’s reality.
Keep living in a world where you can’t spell “y’all” and don’t know what the word “finished” means.
Reports coming out today that despite several calls, Bellinger is sticking with Boras.
“Finally finished”, right?!
His clients got crap deals
And next yr will be same
Alonso will be playing for diablo de los rojas in mexican league
You are precious
LOL
Boras washed
I mean that’s only 1. Boras still has a lot more. Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Alonso, Aronzarena, Bregman, Burnes, Graterol, Gallen,Soto, etc. You get it a lot of high profile players are Boras clients. Montgomery leaving won’t change him.
Reports said that Monty allegedly wanted to surpass Nola’s deal. Given Boras’ MO, it seems most likely that that was his idea.
Another dimension of Boras’ failings this offseason was that the players he represented were damaged goods in one way or another. None of these players were getting record deals in this offseason climate. They were the wrong players to bet on, but guys link up with Boras because that’s what they want. The blame really goes both ways.
– Bellinger’s deal is actually very sensible. He needs to prove he’s fully turned the corner after so many bad years in LA.
– Snell should’ve been looking for the Rodon deal. He has real health and production consistency issues.
– Chapman should’ve been looking for 4/80 or 5/90. He’s a one dimensional hitter who is aging and coming off a bad year.
– Monty should’ve been looking for 5-6 years at 100-120 million. He’s not an ace and doesn’t have ace stuff nor an ace track record.
Una de cal por las que van de arena.
Looks like there’s one guy who was not happy at all with the offseason.
The funny thing with Boras is that he gets a lot of very big deals for his clients, but many if not most of the biggest deals ever are achieved with non-Boras agents.
Casey Close is one that comes to mind- not much controversy, flies under the radar and still gets his clients record breaking or virtually maximum value deals and most of those deals tend to work out for the clubs.
There are others, too, but bottom line is that Boras is one of those people who is a powerful faucet for his clients and the industry that is also poisoning the well and I think players and teams would rather go with quieter agents who are equally effective but aren’t so high profile and controversial.
Good! Boras won’t dissappear but hopefully this is the beginning of him losing relevance.
Good to see Boras finally taking a hit !! Maybe more will dump him .
Why does this bring you joy? Why should you even care?
Because Boras is bad for baseball.
I love seeing boras fail, but this wasn’t entirely on him. The TV deals falling apart had a bigger impact than anyone thought. His only mistake was not pivoting faster.
And Arizona was able to sign Montgomery only cos they had the money from their World Series run.
Nothing wrong with this. If you don’t like the service you’re getting from your agent, you move on to another one. Top, young kids will still sign with Boras and he’ll continue to get money.
Montgomery switching to Wasserman sends a clear message to Boras that he wasn’t happy with his representation & outcome of his FA. Look for more Boras clients to do the same before next offseason
Owners are not giving 6-8 year contracts for 30 year old pitchers anymore. They FINALLY learned that it is usually a bad deal for the team in years 5-8
The winds of change are blowing like a hurricane. Some are using words, Jordan went with action.
Good for baseball.
I would think that Boras of all people would see the way the wind was blowing. He has been a big part of player contracts going up, to the benefit of his clients (and others that aren’t his clients), as well as obviously himself.
That growth couldn’t continue at the rate it was. Eventually it will reach a point where it digs deeper into the bottom line than most ownership groups are willing to go. They own the team to make money, not to break even or make a little bit of money. Obviously there are some outliers like the Dodgers (2030’s will be interesting), Mets, and Yankees who have more money than some small countries. The Padres also had a unique situation that they will need to come back down to Earth to stay in the green.
Needless to say the contract growth is unsustainable. It is strange that Boras can’t see what we see when he is connected at the highest levels. Maybe it’s hubris I don’t know.
Next year I can see Soto resigning with the Yankees, just because they will be the only ones that I can see that could pay a stupid large contract (even the Dodgers have limits).
If the yanks are smart they will let another team way overpay for Soto
They should offer a fair deal and call his bluff
What’s a fair deal for Soto from the Yankees’ perspective?
35-40M per year 10 years looks fair,
but, the Nats offered Soto 440M which Boras and Soto declined. Gotta think Boras is looking to break records, again. They will want 600M 700M OR even more since Ohtani’s
sky high deal. Can Soto pitch also?!
Good for Montgomery. Would love to see Boras out of baseball. He is a plague
I just don’t like Boras
He has no morals
He is a just a bad human
He never hesitates to manipulate the truth
It is sad that there are people who support him
Captain – There are women who fall in love with men AFTER the men are convicted of multiple murders.
Why do some people support those who don’t deserve to be supported?
Hmmmm …. how do I put this gently and respectfully ….
Some people are stupid.
Probably won’t be the last one to dump Boras, after his disastrous offseason.
Nola signed early and got overpaid. Smart choice
Bill – Sadly, so did Giolito and a bunch of other players that did NOT have Boras as an agent.
LOL at people still defending Boras. What is he, your dad?
Bc some folks can objectively look at a situation through a wider lense and use critical thinking.
YBC – Sorry but the people who are claiming Boras did a great job this offseason and claiming his Top Five got great contracts and claiming it was impossible for him to get more because of RSN or whatnot and claiming it was all some big conspiracy by owners (even though it was ONLY Scott’s clients that were impacted) are most definitely not utilizing critical thinking.
More like those people are utilizing the Jim Jones & David Koresh level of thinking.
Good for him! Glad someone has dumped Boras. He totally deserves it. His tactics are outdated and GM’s are outsmarting him.
Wanted to play on a winner. Ur on a winner lmao
Meh. AZ was #15 in Py W/L with an 80-83, and beat one team by 1 game and two teams by two games to land the final WC slot. This is not like he took a few less dollars to play for Atl or LAD.
Good for Jordan
Feel bad for Jordy for being overplayed by Boras!
It’s not that Boras isn’t a good agent. It’s that’s with so many clients, I don’t think he can represent them all to his best ability when his time is divided between so many.
The top guys really don’t need Boras. A guy like Soto is going to get paid even if I was he agent.
Got to be a consideration. There’s also the fact that you can easily end up in a situation where you are competing with someone who is also being promoted by your guy. A bigger distribution of top talent amongst agents is better for everybody except Boras.
Nando – It has been reported by many credible sources that Boras refused to negotiate for Monty until Snell was signed.
It’s like if you ever need an accident attorney, do NOT hire one of the biggest firms if you don’t have a huge case. I speak from experience, you will be ignored and treated like a low priority because the money they could make off you isn’t nearly as much as the huge cases.
I can’t find anything about it now but I remember Montgomery switching to Boras around 2020. That’s why I thought he’d never sign an extension. I’m thinking that chip on Monty’s shoulder is getting larger and larger.
Boras has plenty of clients and this isn’t likely to ding him badly. Montgomery might benefit from a smaller shop, less internal competition, which he will get. He’s a solid pitcher who aimed a bit too high in dollars, and maybe got a bit less attention than he wanted or merited.
Boras has rubbed enough owners wrong that’s shrunk the pool of teams who will work with him. Hire him at your own peril.
Unless you’re a superstar. You should stay far away from Boras.
Jordan Montgomery will be an upgrade over Ryne Nelson on the Dbacks pitching staff…
Oh, sorry. I thought this was an article about a baseball player, not about Agents.
Anybody else wonder what Boras did to get black-balled?
This is nice to see and hopefully more of Boras clients will be following.
Boras has objectives beyond helping his individual clients. He’d rather spend his time on influencing the players union, rather on the best interests of his individual clients.
Players bolt when their representatives look out for their own interests above their own.
Scott Boras has done some very good things for the players he represented over the years.
I have been complimentary to Boras for advancing his players/clients interests professionally and financially
Undoubtedly, MLB Players Association, Scott Boras other sports agents a have made MLB more fair and equitable for the players.
However, Boras has also hurt players/clients that he has represented by “overplaying his hand”
1) Free Agent Class 2023-2024 and the arrogance of trying to completely control the market and dictate ever increasing salary demands pushing the 400M-1B+ marks and beyond
2) From draft picks forced to re enter the draft in subsequent years after “overplaying his hand”,
3) Too many free agents “left at the altar” and forced to take short term deals and wait for the next, uncertain free agent period in the next year
with all the risks of injury, market changes and possibly missing his players’/clients best leverage and best window of opportunity to get their long-term, top dollar free agent contract signed with the competitive team of their choice.
3) Presenting his represented players in
a not so informal “Cartel like manner” to manipulate prices even higher
and derail a “competitive bidding process”
At times, it is difficult to determine what is most important to Scott Boras and the Boras Corporation.
Are they still putting the players’ interests 1st?!
Are they still aligned with what is most important to the Players, Clients, Non Client players, MLB Players Association, and the FANS/ PAYING CUSTOMERS?!
This is not to say the Owners have “clean hands” regarding these issues.
Owners like Frank McCourt, John Fisher and others have too much power and too much credence with MLB, The Commissioner’s Office and individual owners etc…