Scott Boras Effect?

by stickpiano on Nov 6, 2008 3:43 PM EST Comment 22 comments

I've been thinking about this lately and wanted to get some feedback from you all.

Is there any data to suggest that draft-eligible players hurt their long-term earnings potential by signing with Scott Boras? Sure, in the short-term they will probably get paid 'over slot' and maybe even secure an MLB deal in addition to their signing bonus. However, do the negatives outweigh the positives?

For instance, do these players tend to struggle with the weight of expectation in the minors? Is there any way to find out which agent has the highest success rate in terms of getting players to the majors?

I understand why Manny and K-Rod would want Boras as their agent, but why would an MLB first rounder? Surely the difference in signing bonus is negligible and possibly outweighed by the pressure of being a Boras client.

Also, don't Boras clients often slip in the draft so that teams can pay them less? Maybe a player slips down to a lower slot, so that a team ends up paying them for the higher slot anyway?

Has anyone seen any good articles/research on this?

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Boras Clients

Slipping in the draft is good for his clients. It makes them fall to the good teams, which are typically the teams with more money, which can pay them more. His big clients almost always go over slot…

by Dfarth on Nov 6, 2008 4:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

re

just because they slip, doesn’t mean Boras charges any less for their services. If Stephen Strasburg drops to the 40th round this year Boras will still get $10 for him

by ScottAZ on Nov 6, 2008 4:45 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

should be $10 million

and a major league deal

by ScottAZ on Nov 6, 2008 4:46 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

40th round

except that for him to slip that far he’d probably have to be missing an arm.

by supermets on Nov 6, 2008 4:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Both

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Nov 6, 2008 5:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Boras is great for his 1st round clients

He gets them enough money to set them up for life. Players such as Alvarez, Stephen Drew, Jared Weaver, etc don’t have to worry about working for the rest of their lives. I would think that would relieve their stress, rather then increase it. While we may not like Boras, if I had a son who had the talent of Strasburg, I would hire Boras in a second.

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift

by King Billy Royal on Nov 6, 2008 4:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I guess I'm in the minority

…but I firmly believe the way he makes a few of his clients hold out a year and enter the next year’s draft does much more detriment to their future earning potential (since it sets back FA) than the little extra on the signing bonus helps.

I guess this isn’t as much a concern now as it was in the past since there is a definite signing date but even now I think it’s much wiser for an elite prospect to begin their minor league career quickly and reach the majors as fast as they can rather than hold out as long as possible just at a chance at an extra hundred thousand or so.

by TRanger on Nov 6, 2008 5:43 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Well

Boras really doesn’t do anything without the player’s consent. If i’m a kid coming out of high school or even the father of a child who I invested a lot of time and money into—I’d want to be compensated with a big contract. That’s the case typically with many of these players- They want money and Boras gets it to them.

That being said, as far as player development goes, there have been some shaky reports about Boras clients being sent to his own particular training facility and things of that nature, and this has inhibited his clients from benefitting from the organization’s coaching staff (examples include Craig Hansen, Hochaver, and others—it’s in a thread somewhere). That sort of thing, I do take issue with

by sagecoll on Nov 6, 2008 7:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I've begun to wonder...

…whether he is good for his clients or not. I think he may not be getting the most money for his clients, instead trying to maximize the percentage of money given out by teams to the collective of all of his clients.

What I mean by this is that there are benefits to taking less money per year and locking in a long term deals. And instead, he’d rather risk his clients total earning potential for more money on a yearly basis. This benefits him, but gives them tremendous risk. If they don’t happen to ever get that long term deal, they lose millions of dollars per year, but he risks nothing because he scoops up the next big earner and plays the same game.

I get the feeling that I didn’t explain my viewpoint perfectly here. Just so you know, it’s a theory that I’m running with. I’ve been watching the way he works very carefully after the ARod fiasco.

by JayWise on Nov 6, 2008 7:51 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

+1

I see what you’re saying. It’s pretty much what Longoria did. Boras would have never allowed one of his clients to sign a long term deal like Longoria’s because he will probably lose a lot of money in the long run. But for Longoria, that contract was great for him. $40 million guaranteed(I think) sets him for life and he will never regret it even if he could have had twice as much.

by supermets on Nov 6, 2008 8:56 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

and once you get a $40 million dollar contract

how much more does one really need?

Why someone holds out for an extra $5 million on a $90 million contract is insane when they could play some where comfortable instead of some where unknown.

But what do I know, I’ve never been offered a $100 contract…

by tuna411 on Nov 6, 2008 9:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure...

but I think at least some (maybe more) players consider it a respect issue. They want to get paid that little bit extra to move them up the “yearly salary” scale. Like if they aren’t paid Top 5 money for their position they don’t consider themselves a Top 5 player. That’s just a guess. I know NFL Players get contracts guaranteeing that they will be the top paid lineman on the team, or will always be a Top 5 paid WR… stuff like that. Wouldn’t surprise me if MLB Players were the same way.

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Nov 6, 2008 10:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

NFL contracts don't guarantee squat

NFL contract dynamics are very different simply because the contracts AREN’T guaranteed.

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Nov 7, 2008 1:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Clauses...

Clauses in their contracts do guarantee things. Take Steve Hutchinson for example. When the Vikings signed him to an offer (Seattle could still match it and keep him) there was a clause in the contract that stated that if ever he was not the highest paid lineman on the team, the rest of the contract would be guaranteed. Obviously the Seahawks could not match it because they had Walter Jones under contract already. And his contract stipulated that he would always be the highest paid lineman on the team. So… Seattle lost Hutch to the Vikings and haven’t been the same since.

"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile

by Boxkutter on Nov 7, 2008 2:28 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There’d be selection bias in any study as Boras tends to get the best clients, thus he’d figure to get the best success rate.

by 17843 on Nov 7, 2008 2:27 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

Matt Harrington

by DeJay on Nov 7, 2008 4:02 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

That wasn't

boras was it?

1941 .406

by FrozenTed9 on Nov 7, 2008 9:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i think you are correct

The first time around…it wasn’t Boras, but the second…third…fourth? times around it was Boras.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Nov 8, 2008 12:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Boras’s job is to get the best deal possible for his client NOW. Tomorrow …….. the guy make break a leg, never play again., hire a new agent, etc. The best chance that Boras has to insure that he’s the player’s agent in the furture is to get him the best contract in the present. The player obviously has input but for most of these guys the bonus payment is the single largest amount of money that they’ll earn in their lifetime. They’d be foolish to forego a current payment and bank on a future cash bonanza.

by prhood on Nov 7, 2008 7:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Today vs Tomorrow

Okay, I agree. He is suppose to get the best contract possible for today. However, when bor-ASS has a 20 year old sit out a year over $300K or $600K…a year in the phase of baseball life which is developmental…then he is doing harm to the career of the kid.

I understand the process of getting the most but when I see a kid skip a year of ball, I think (and probably many others think this also)…

“Dipshit, you are a professional baseball player; you are getting paid to play a game and they are offering you money which totals MORE money than most people make in a life time”

…and, as I already wrote, the kid is missing time during the development portion of his career. He can never be as good if he misses a year. It is just a stupid move long-term.

And I won’t even begin to discuss the obvious lies he has told while negoiating, lies which are now coming back to hinder present day bor-ASS clients. Teams don’t believe bor-ASS anymore and many don’t even bother looking at his clients because of the inherant headaches.

by tuna411 on Nov 7, 2008 10:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I suspect that it’s probably safe to assume that Boras is also trying to earn the most money for himself in the long run. If that means telling a kid that he should look for more than he’s being offered and could probably do better by staying in college for another year and improve his standing, I see that as a logical and responsible thing for him to do. The player is ultimately responsible for the decision and I seriously doubt that Boras would recommend to any player to “sit it out” unless he believed that the player could do better. he would have a very short life asan agent if he were that stupid.

The teams that refuse to deal with Boras clients typically short-change only themselves because his stable is typically pretty strong. They wind up with players of lesser quality – you get what you pay for.

I’m not defending Boras, I also don’t demonize him either. He does his job as best he can on behalf of his clients.

by prhood on Nov 7, 2008 11:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think there is somthing else that is more likely to negatively effect on young players

Signing big league contracts before they spend a day in professional baseball. These players tend to be very talented, but if something occurs that delays their development they are placed on the big league roster anyway when they are out of options, even if they don’t belong there. That is what hurt Willy Mo Pena, he spent 2 years rotting on the Reds, hardly seeing any playing time, occasionally as a pinch runner, or a pinch hitter if nobody else was available. I am guessing if he could have had more seasoning in AAA he would be a more polished hitter. Instead he is stil a raw talent guy, who sometimes can overcome his lack of polish, but will probably be nothing more than a 4th outfielder.

"It is a damn poor mind indeed which can’t think of at least two ways to spell any word."-Andy Jack

by justin007000 on Nov 7, 2008 11:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs