It's that time of the year. The Subway Series always sparks some sensational Yankees and Mets gossip and John Heyman shared in the New York Post HERE that the Mets could be the Yankees biggest threat to sign Soto this winter. We all know Steve Cohen has a big piggy bank and is more likely to spend more of it than Hal is but Soto replied with "we will see. In the offseason we will figure it out. I'll let [agent Scott Boras] do his thing. We're going to see."
And we are definitely going to see. Soto clearly has a lot of faith in Boras, but does he have too much faith? Serious question. You can say many things about Boras like he is "bad for baseball" for example. He does get a pretty penny for his clients, which causes us to pay more money in the end but historically he's been great at his job. It's all about making his clients the most money, which he has done.....
Except this past winter, he had an epic fall from grace. Take a look at the MLBtraderumors.com projected for five of his clients and compare it to what they signed for:
Cody Bellinger: PROJECTED 12 years, $264 million ACTUAL: 3 years, $80 million
Blake Snell: PROJECTED 7 years, $200 million ACTUAL: 2 years, $60 million
Jordan Montgomery: PROJECTED 6 years, $150 million ACTUAL: 1 year, $25 million
Matt Chapman: PROJECTED 6 years, $150 million ACTUAL: 3 years, $54 million
J.D. Martinez: PROJECTED 2 years, $40 million ACTUAL: 1 year, $12 million
TOTAL PROJECTED: $804 million ACTUAL: $231 million
All five of these players had impressive 2023 seasons. Bellinger won a Silver Slugger. Snell won his second Cy Young Award. Montgomery got a World Series ring. Chapman won a Gold Glove. Martinez was an All-Star. All of these guys were expecting a bigger pay day. It didn't happen.
The market didn't value these guys the same way Boras did. He tried to sell it in a tough financial market but it didn't happen. Diamond Sports Group filed for bankruptcy, and they provide television broadcasts for almost HALF of all MLB, NBA and NHL games. This left almost HALF of all MLB teams facing uncertainty about any local tv coverage in the future. One of these teams were the Rangers, who wanted but couldn't afford to bring back Montgomery.
So Boras didn't have the healthiest market to sell his clients to. In the end, Montgomery left Boras for new agents so it's not a great look for Boras. Now Soto trusts Boras to "do his thing" and get him the biggest and best deal? That's a scary gamble.
Soto has declined as many as seven contract extensions in the last five years. He believes Boras will bring him his pay day, but is he foolish to do so? Will Boras misread the market again? It could happen.
I dunno Soto, Boras didn't "do his thing" for his clients last year. It might not work out the way you think it will.
--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
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