Super Agent Scott Boras has secured over a billion dollars worth of contracts for his MLB players this season and he seems destined for more.
When Marvin Miller broke onto the scene in 1966 as the MLB Players Association Executive Director, baseball owners followed the reserve clause which bound players to their teams. With such a lack of negotiating power, baseball players were at the mercy of their employer, and couldn’t even talk with other teams unless being outright released.
By 1975 Miller had filed so many grievances an arbitrator threw out the reserve clause and free agency was born. Earlier this offseason it was announced Marvin Miller would be posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Modern Era Baseball Committee. One wonders if Scott Boras does indeed chair that committee.
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Marvin Miller paved the way for free agency and Scott Boras paved the way for record-breaking, nine-figure salaries, which ultimately put him over the $1 billion amount this offseason. Entering this free-agent signing period Boras was responsible for $2.4 billion worth of contracts. This offseason alone he secured $1.182 billion between nine free agents and his arbitration-eligible players.
Boras has had big contracts in the past with MLB players such as Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeria, Prince Fielder, and most recently Bryce Harper. Never has Boras had such a single lucrative offseason like the one he is having this go around.
Boras is known in the business for getting top dollar for his client while securing extra years on the back end of those deals. Several former players have “aged out” of their contracts, earning large salaries well after their production levels decreased steadily.
Stephen Strasburg was the first big splash for Boras this offseason when he resigned with the Washington Nationals for a then-record $245 million contract for pitchers. Days later Gerrit Cole topped this with a now record $324 million contract for pitchers.
The same day Boras found client Anthony Rendon a team for a cool $245 million as well. Big-name producers like the aforementioned were destined to get good paydays, though the stars aligned for Boras to push the total value over one billion dollars. After signing one-year deals last year, clients Mike Moustakas and Dallas Keuchel inked multi-year deals for a collective $119.5 million. Boras even found a taker for Gio Gonzales at $5 million, a year after Gonzales settled on a minor league contract.
This is baseball and the money is guaranteed (see Jacoby Ellsbury’s 7 year- $153 million deal of which he will have only played four years as three were wrecked completely due to injury), just like it’s guaranteed Scott Boras is not only great at his job, but the best at his job.