As Major League Baseball’s 2019 Winter Meetings reach its conclusion today, one thing has become clear, baseball is booming.
The Winter Meetings saw massive contracts being handed out (in excess of $300 million for just one player), swirling rumors, sweeping changes to the game, and even alterations to the way in which the league responds to marijuana and opioid testing among its players.
Among the many attention-grabbing headlines of the week, one thing has remained consistent, Scott Boras and The Boras Corporation continue to set the marketplace.
Last year, we saw Bryce Harper (a Boras client) sign a 13-year, $330-million deal with the Phillies, albeit in late February.
This year, by contrast, Stephen Strasburg ($245 million – Washington Nationals), Gerrit Cole ($324 million – New York Yankees), Anthony Rendon ($245 million – Los Angeles Angels), and Mike Moustakas ($64 million – Cincinnati Reds) combined for $878 million in contract value. Not to mention, Hyun-Jun Ryu, Dallas Keuchel, and Nick Castellanos, all high-priced Boras clients, still remain on the market.
What has become obvious is that Boras sets the tone not only for the Winter Meetings but also for the entire MLB off-season. In 2018, Boras chose to wait till February to find the right mega-deal for his client Bryce Harper. So, one might ask…why was there such a flurry of free agent deals during the Winter Meetings in 2019?
Boras is quoted as saying during the Winter Meetings that teams are anxious to field contenders thus the flurry of free agent deals so early in the off-season. However, reality is that Boras has, and has historically had, the top players in the game on his client roster. With that being said, teams generally, of course, want the best and most talented players on their roster. The marketplace is set up in such a way that Boras can dominate, mostly due to his hard work and dedication to the sport.
Having the luxury of representing MLB’s most talented players, Boras is consistently set to make high commissions off of contracts negotiated, simply due to the caliber of his roster.
As free agency progresses into the winter and eventually Spring Training, Boras will likely have negotiated upwards of $1 billion in total contract value. ATS Experts says, Boras continues to keep baseball’s offseason a constant roller coaster, something that all fans (casual or die-hard), can truly appreciate.