Blake Snell is going to bat this week for his agent.
Baseball mega-agent Scott Boras was the target of criticism this week from his former client, Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery, who had to wait several months into his free agency this past winter before landing a deal, has struggled this season while pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks. During an interview with reporters last week, Montgomery ripped Boras, whom he has since fired, and said that Boras had “butchered” his free agency.
You can read Montgomery’s full remarks about Boras here.
In a media availability of his own this week, the San Francisco Giants lefty Snell, who is also represented by Boras, hit back at Montgomery’s remarks.
“My experience with Scott has been great,” Snell said, per Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. “He told me everything that was happening, all the offers I got. So for him to just get bashed for what I believe is false, that’s not fair at all. I really strongly believe that.
“I’ve seen how [Montgomery] struggled, but he signed the deal he ultimately wanted to sign,” Snell went on. “He has the choice. I don’t know what other deals he was offered, but I know everything that was offered to me. It’s just sad that he thinks that way when I see Scott as a very honorable man.”
Like Montgomery, Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, had to wait until shortly before Opening Day to land his new contract (and a short-term one at that). That is similar to what Boras-represented hitters Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger had to settle for last offseason as well.
But while those other three players were able to work their way into form this season (especially Snell, who owns a 1.30 ERA ever since the calendar flipped to July), Montgomery has been awful all year and recently even got demoted by his team.
Montgomery’s point of contention seems to be that Boras supposedly wasn’t upfront about the offers that were received and was instead holding out for a bigger offer which never came in the end. But Snell’s experience with Boras, which netted him a similar contract, was obviously much more positive. Snell sounds happy with his larger money up front combined with the opportunity to test free agency again next winter.
