Agent Scott Boras stays course, calling free agent system 'upside-down'
Jorge L. Ortiz
PEORIA, Ariz. – The San Diego Padres took the unusual step of announcing the terms of Eric Hosmer’s new eight-year, $144 million contract, which includes an opt-out clause after the fifth season, and pointed out it’s the largest agreement in franchise history.
The deal represents a nice coup for agent Scott Boras, who was left to negotiate with two teams that had never made a nine-figure commitment and still got top value for Hosmer.
But this hasn’t been a boffo offseason for Boras, baseball’s most powerful agent and the representative for several of the leading free agents in this year’s market. He’ll get a reminder of baseball’s new reality at his next stop, Fort Myers, Fla., where the Boston Red Sox are expected to introduce new outfielder-designated hitter J.D. Martinez on Wednesday.
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Martinez and the Red Sox agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract, with opt-outs after the second and third seasons. Though certainly a tidy sum, that’s a cool $100 million below the inflated value Boras pegged for the slugger when the offseason began.
In addition, other big-name Boras clients like Jake Arrieta, Greg Holland and Mike Moustakas remain unsigned. Chances are they will also have to settle for less than they expected in a market that has contracted as several clubs have decided to rebuild and others stayed away from big-ticket items.
Even previous mega-spenders like the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals have largely eschewed the free agent market, partly in an attempt to remain under the $197 million luxury tax threshold and its attached penalties.
The offseason freeze has prompted agents to speak out, with Creative Artist Agency’s Brodie Van Wagenen suggesting the possibility of collusion among clubs.
Boras’ tack has been to repeatedly argue that baseball is hurting itself when so many teams go into a season with little apparent intention to contend for the playoffs.
“I think we’ve got a lot of excuse-making,’’ Boras said. “We have a lot of reasons for non-competitiveness. And the reason for it is they’re suggesting some reward (high draft picks). Our system is upside-down, because we never, ever want to reward non-competitiveness. It is a cancer. It damages the brand of baseball.’’
Boras praised the Padres for stepping up and outbidding the Kansas City Royals for Hosmer, a four-time Gold Glover who averaged 25 homers and 99 RBI the last two seasons and brings a sterling reputation for his leadership skills and clubhouse presence.
But San Diego has logged seven consecutive losing years, and after a brief flirtation with high-priced stars before the 2015 season, ditched all of them in pursuit of young talent. The Padres opened last season with the majors’ lowest payroll, by far.
In other words, they took the same route the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros rode to World Series championships the last two years. San Diego, with the third-ranked farm system in the majors according to Baseball America, happens to be further along than those two franchises were when they began their process. That’s why going after Hosmer made sense.
“This organization is one I referred to earlier as a volcano of hot talent lava,’’ Boras said, drawing chuckles. “To turn that lava into major league rock, that’s a hard thing to do. … What Eric Hosmer brings is that he went through all that in Kansas City. He along with many people were all prospects. They were that major league lava and they turned into championship rocks.’’
Hosmer, 28, was appealing because of his youth, productivity and championship pedigree. He broke in with the Royals in 2011 and became one of the guiding forces in their surge from perennial doormats to World Series participants in 2014 and 2015, winning the second one. Hosmer will honor former teammate Yordano Ventura, who died in a January 2017 car crash, by wearing his No. 30 with the Padres.
Despite the unusually slow-developing offseason, Hosmer said he enjoyed his first ride through free agency, but also called the process “grueling.’’
Asked if he was close to reaching a deal with the Royals, he responded: “I don’t think anybody was close to closing a deal the whole offseason the way it was going. It was a long process.’’
And it required some creativity. When the Red Sox re-signed first baseman Mitch Moreland in mid-December, the main suitors for Hosmer were down to San Diego and Kansas City. To make the deal with the Padres work, the sides agreed to front-load it, so Hosmer will average $20 million over the first five seasons and $13 million the last three. There’s also a $5 million signing bonus.
Similarly, Martinez’s new contract calls for him to earn $50 million over the first two seasons, before his first opt-out.
So in the absence of bidders, Boras has opted for resourcefulness. He may need to display that trait as well in selling the services of Arrieta – who has drawn interest from the Philadelphia Phillies – in addition to Holland and Moustakas.
In the meantime, Boras will continue to rail against baseball’s new fiscal conservatism in hopes of shaking loose some more money for his clients.
“When owners wake up and fans wake up every day and they go, ‘Are we really the best team we can be?’ I think every team has to ask that,’’ Boras said. “I think every player sits there and goes, ‘We could really improve our chances of winning by getting one of the few true franchise, big-game pitchers who’s in the prime of his career (Arrieta). Why are we not doing that?’’’
The selling never stops.
