A Phillies’ fit by popular demand
By Tal Venada
“Agent provocateur”
According to Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Boras represents 20 unsigned players. And he is the super agent for Darvish, Arrieta, Cobb, Lynn, and Garcia.
As for Klentak, he evaluated those five hurlers and Cashner before 2018. And because the exec had anticipated the Boras factor, he added a left-handed bat with power and two setup men to strengthen his 25-man roster.
Primarily, the Phillies want to establish, at least, a winning record (82-80) before spending north of $99 million for an aging starter. And both Darvish and Arrieta have offers in or above that vicinity. Ergo, a dead end!
On the other hand, nobody wants to hear anything other than Arrieta will don red pinstripes, and nothing can extinguish that until he signs. But these two words are the cure for this wishful thinking: Scott Boras.
In Klentak’s view, you’d see the top four starters are Boras’ clients, and he is willing to go down to the wire to satisfy his expectations. So, a decision maker’s plan is for a last-minute bargain because it occasionally happens due to the super agent’s strategy.
Because of the influence of Boras on the market, GMs with a highly sought-after moundsman want a big haul including Kingery or Sanchez. And another reason is the disappointing stats of the free agents after Darvish and Arrieta. In fact, what’s the only thing Klentak is missing? A silver bullet!