SCOTT BORAS
You can like Scott Boras or hate him.
One thing is inarguable.
Having earned $191 million in commissions in 2022, Boras easily tops the list of the richest agents in all of sports.
This offseason, he has already signed lucrative deals for Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Carlos Rodon and Brandon Nimmo.
Rodon signed with the Yankees and Nimmo re-signed with the Mets.
And Correa, who had reached an agreement with the Giants several days ago, after exercising his 1-year opt out with the Twins–pending the results of his physical–didn’t want to wait.
Both he and Boras knew the depth of Mets owner Steve Cohen’s pockets and the length of his arms.
Bingo!!
He’s a New York Met.
For $315 million and one fewer year, a tad less than the overall $350 million the Giants were willing to pay.
Before Rodon and Boras agreed to a six-year $162 million contract ($27 million/year) with a full no-trade clause, Boras had booked $1.01 billion in contracts for his assorted clients.
And assorted they are.
Masataka Yoshida ($90 million); Taijuan Walker ($72 million); Sean Manaea ($25 million); Cody Bellinger ($17.5 million); Matt Boyd ($10 million); and James Paxton ($4 million) bring up “the rear” of Boras’ offseason client roster.
So far.
MLB agents are allowed to charge a maximum of 5%.
The man prints money for his people and, of course, for himself.
Boras is the founder, owner and president of the Boras Corporation, a sports agency based in Newport Beach, California.
Representing roughly 175 professional baseball clients, the 70-year-old has been named by Forbes Magazine–since 2013–as the “Most Powerful Sports Agent in the World.”
If that accolade could somehow be interpreted as an understatement, well, it is.
And it didn’t start out like this.
Boras was born in Sacramento and grew up in Elk Grove, CA., the son of a dairy farmer.
He turned out to be a pretty fair ballplayer in his own right.
Attending the University of the Pacific, he made the team as a walk-on, leading the club with a .312 batting average in 1972.
As of 2009, Boras was still in the top ten in UOP history in multiple offensive categories.
He was inducted into the Pacific Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, and the baseball team’s annual “Most Improved Player” award is named in his honor.
Following his college career, Boras played four seasons of minor league baseball in the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs organizations.
In 1976, he made the Florida State League All-Star team but persistent knee problems shortened his career.
He retired with a career batting average of .288.
UOP presented Boras with two degrees: Doctor of Pharmacy in 1977; and Juris Doctor from the university’s McGeorge School of Law in 1982.
Following law school, Boras worked as an associate in the pharmaceutical defense department of the Chicago firm Rooks, Pitts & Poust (now Dykema Gossett), defending drug companies against class-action lawsuits.
Would have been the start of a bright career, were it not for Manny Trillo.
And Bill Caudill.
Trillo, a big-league shortstop, was Boras’ first client and Boras negotiated what was then (1983) one of the largest contracts in baseball history–$7.5 million for Caudill–a former minor league teammate and closer for the Seattle Mariners.
After those two, it was goodbye to law.
Trillo and Caudill work for the Boras Corporation, a baseball-only sports agency, the most valuable of its kind.
Negotiating record-setting contracts quickly became a thing.
The norm.
Boras was the first baseball agent to do deals north of $50 million:
Greg Maddux, five years $57.5 million in 1997;
$100 million for Kevin Brown in 1998, seven years; and
ARod, $200 million in 2000, ten years.
Representing elite players in each year’s amateur draft has also unleashed a lucrative revenue stream for both player, agency and agent.
Tim Belcher (1983).
Andy Benes (1988).
Ben McDonald (1989).
Todd Van Poppel (1990).
Brien Taylor (1991).
J.D. Drew (1998).
Mark Teixeira (2001).
Then in 2009, there were Stephen Strasburg, Donavan Tate, and Jacob Turner.
And the hits just keep on comin’.
“Baseball’s most hated man?”
“Baseball’s answer to Lord Voldemort?”
The man “players can’t afford to live without?”
Whatever.
Scott Boras has broken new ground since the early-’80s and continues to do so every day.
How many can say that?
[Editor’s Note: this piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in December 2022.]
