Scott Boras has made his share of mistakes reading the market the last few offseasons, but everything seemed to break his way this offseason.
Boras represented several of the top clients on the free agent market this year. He and his clients have gotten lucky that the right teams were ready to compete and willing to spend, which led to some huge offers. He’s had three players sign for over $200 million and has already totaled over $1 billion in contracts this offseason.
Here is the superagent’s list, which comes out to $1.022 billion in contracts negotiated.
Scott Boras’ $1.022 billion winter:
Cole: $324 million, #Yankees
Strasburg: $245 million, #Nats
Rendon: $245 million, #Angels
Ryu: $80 million, #Jays
Moustakas: $64 million, #Reds
Keuchel: $55.5 million, #WhiteSox
Profar: $5.7 million, #Padres
Watson: $3 million, #SFGiants— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 23, 2019
The Gerrit Cole deal was a record amount for a pitcher by far and really helped set Boras up to pass the billion dollar mark. What helped was having three big-pocketed teams who wanted the young ace, with the Yankees leading the way and ultimately landing the pitcher on a deal that left Cole speechless. Just having them involved in a bidding war is sure to drive up the price. Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg both got $245 million deals.
And after settling for one-year deals in the past, Mike Moustakas and Dallas Keuchel finally signed long-term deals, which also helped Boras secure more money.
At a five percent commission, Boras’ agency would be taking in just over $51 million off these contracts. That’s not a bad offseason. As for his past mistakes, ask Jayson Werth and Martin Maldonado about that.
