Welcome to Snyder’s Soapbox! Here, I pontificate about matters related to Major League Baseball on a weekly basis. Some of the topics will be pressing matters, some might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and most will be somewhere in between. The good thing about this website is that it’s free, and you are allowed to click away. If you stay, you’ll get smarter, though. That’s a money-back guarantee. Let’s get to it.
Major League Baseball agent Scott Boras has been at or near the top of his game for a long time. Nearly just as long, he’s been the most polarizing agent in the business.
In light of some things that have transpired in recent years, there’s been a lot of talk going both ways on Boras. On one side, there’s the whole, “Boras has lost his touch and is costing his clients money” crowd. This type of response is always met with a group of people pointing out some of his biggest wins.
The truth, as so often happens, lies in the middle, but — believe it or not — it’s much closer to Boras still being on top of his game. Let’s discuss that here. We’ll stick to the last two offseasons, because the people who are saying he’s not having the success he has in the past are talking about 2024-25 free agent classes, by and large.
And there are certainly some contracts we have to file in the loss column for Boras. We’ll start with those before getting to his wins.
Losses
Pete Alonso – Alonso reportedly turned down a seven-year, $158 million extension offer from the Mets during the 2023 season that would have covered 2024 with $20.5 million and left six years and $137.5 million moving forward. Reports indicated the Mets offered Alonso three years and something in the ballpark of $68 million-$70 million in early January. Alonso ended up signing with the Mets for two years and $54 million last week.
The people who don’t like Boras were all over this one. It does look like a huge loss for Alonso, but keep in mind that the slugger didn’t hire Boras until after turning down that seven-year extension offer. He was previously with Apex Baseball.
Alex Bregman? Bregman reportedly turned down a six-year, $156 million offer from the Astros. He’s still a free agent and the market seems to be dwindling. Some of the teams rumored to still be involved in talks with Bregman would very likely prefer him to sign a one- or two-year deal. We still don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but it sure is starting to look like Bregman should’ve taken that initial offer from the Astros.
We’ll see, but the Boras naysayers are already using Bregman’s free agency as material for their arguments.
Blake Snell, Part I – Coming off the second Cy Young award of his career, Snell hit free agency after the 2023 season. Early in the offseason, Snell reportedly turned down a six-year, $150 million offer from the Yankees. The Yankees then moved on rather than continuing to pursue him. Snell’s free agency lingered into mid-March before he eventually signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants that included an opt-out clause after the first year.
Matt Chapman, Part I – There were reports that Chapman turned down an extension worth north of $100 million from the Blue Jays before hitting free agency. Like Snell, Chapman’s free agency lasted until March. He finally ended up signing a three-year, $54 million deal with the Giants.
Noticing a theme? There are more.
Cody Bellinger – After betting on himself with a one-year deal for the Cubs in 2023, Bellinger should have won that bet, finishing 10th in NL MVP voting. He was looking for a long-term deal last offseason. Instead, he went back to the Cubs on a three-year, $80 million deal that included opt-out clauses after each year. He did not opt out after his 2024 campaign and the Cubs salary-dumped him to the Yankees shortly thereafter.
Jordan Montgomery – The big lefty was huge for the Rangers down the stretch in 2023 and threw mostly like an ace in the playoffs as they won their first-ever World Series. Montgomery and Boras were said to be seeking at least a six-year deal. Instead, the southpaw signed a one-year, $25 million deal with an option for 2026 on March 26. The deal has been a disaster to the point that the D-backs don’t appear to have plans to use him in the rotation in 2026. Montgomery has since fired his agent and has publicly said that Boras “butchered” his free agency.
Gerrit Cole? It’s difficult to pin this one down, but it certainly looked like Boras and Cole made a mistake — it was just that the Yankees allowed them to backtrack. Shortly after the World Series, Cole opted out of the remaining four years and $144 million remaining on his contract. Two days later, the former Cy Young winner and the Yankees agreed to keep him around with the same contract instead of doing the whole opt-out thing.
What happened there is tough to say, but to some it appeared that Boras drastically over-estimated the market for Cole and had to come crawling back to the Yankees and say something along the lines of, “hey, would it be OK if we just said ‘never mind’ and acted like this all never happened?”
It’s hard to call it a huge loss, given that there was no real harm done to Cole.
Wins
Juan Soto – Shattering the previous record, Soto walked away from this offseason with a 15-year, $765 million contract. That’s a monster win.
Naysayers will say this was all Soto and, frankly, it’s hard to argue that other agents could not have gotten a big win with Soto, under the circumstances. We’re talking about a historically great talent hitting free agency at age 26 while two New York teams desperately wanted him and the Dodgers were there to ratchet up the bidding. On the other hand, isn’t it awfully convenient to dismiss Boras’ biggest win ever?
Corbin Burnes – The 2021 Cy Young winner has seen his strikeout rate fall each of the last four years. Plus, the Diamondbacks had been burned by Montgomery in the aforementioned deal. Boras still got a six-year, $210 million deal from them for Burnes. That’s an easy win.
Matt Chapman, Part II – Hey, remember how Chapman had to settle for that Giants deal we listed above? Yeah, he got a six-year, $151 million extension in early September that same year. You can take that Boras “L” above and flip it to a “W.”
Blake Snell, Part II – Here’s another one you can flip to a win for Boras. Snell opted out of his Giants deal after one year and then landed a five-year, $182 million pact with the World Series champion Dodgers. Snell made $32 million in 2024, so let’s circle back to that deal he turned down last offseason that was six years and $150 million. Lump the Giants year with the Dodgers deal and that’s $214 million over six years.
Yusei Kikuchi – The lefty will be 34 years old next season and sports a career 4.57 ERA stateside. He closed the season with a 2.70 ERA in 10 starts for the Astros and then got a three-year, $63 million deal from the Angels, slightly above what most projected he’d get.
Sean Manaea – The left-hander had one year and $13.5 million left on his deal with the Mets and opted out, making himself a free agent heading into this offseason. He also turned down the one-year, $21.05 million qualifying offer. He ended up getting three years and $75 million from the Mets to stay put.
Tyler O’Neill – The slugging outfielder also exceeded projections with a three-year, $49.5 million deal from the usually frugal Orioles‘ front office. He made $5.85 million in 2024.
Matthew Boyd – Now 34 years old with a pretty sizeable injury history and 4.85 career ERA, Boyd signed a two-year, $29 million deal with the Cubs, slightly exceeding projections.
Ha-Seong Kim – Coming off major shoulder surgery in October, most expected the shortstop would need to sign a one-year deal to rebuild his value. Instead, he got two years and $29 million from the Rays.
What do you think? Has he lost his ability to come through for his clients or have there been just a few high-profile misses that might’ve happened to any agent? In sorting through it all, I’m inclined to believe it’s the latter.
