Like any sport, baseball needs its villains.
And right now, there’s no better villain than Scott Boras, the California-based sports agent who has the audacity to seek and get really, really good contracts for his millionaire clients.
Boras, 55, is so hateful, it would seem, that he will even upstage the World Series.
While the last game between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies was being played last month, the word emerged that Boras client Alex Rodriguez was opting out of the last three years of his contract with the New York Yankees. In doing this, he was passing up $91 million to seek more money elsewhere.
The writers were appalled that Boras — the presumed leaker of the info — didn’t wait until after the World Series to let the opting-out be known.
“At the very least, the decision to announce Rodriguez’ decision violated baseball etiquette in the extreme,” wrote Jack Curry in the New York Times.
Casual observers might wonder how a game in which the players spit frequently and scratch themselves could have etiquette, but baseball does.
And there are lawyers who might argue that Boras, who is a lawyer and a former minor league player, was just doing his duty to his client.
Regardless, the fuss over Boras, sometimes called the most hated man in baseball, may obscure the fact that he is a business powerhouse.
His company, Boras Corp., has so many clients on so many baseball teams that he may be the best-connected person in the sport.
According to an Oct. 29 profile by Ben McGrath in the New Yorker, Boras Corp. represents 65 major-league players.
For its services, the company gets 5 percent of the major leaguer’s salaries.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, a star player in Japan who signed with the Boston Red Sox last December, is a Boras client.
To get Matsuzaka, Boston first won bidding rights by paying $51.1 million. Then the Red Sox agreed to pay Matsuzaka $52 million over six years, a figure that could reach $60 million if Matsuzaka reaches certain goals.
Boras also got pitcher Barry Zito $126 million for seven years from the San Francisco Giants in 2007.
And his bargaining brought outfielder Carlos Beltran $119 for seven years in 2005 from the New York Mets.
Many other Boras clients have done very well.
However, none has received the contract numbers Boras negotiated in 2000 for Rodriguez. The player signed a 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. (Rodriquez went to the Yankees in 2004 and the contract remained in force.)
According to reports, Boras now hopes to get Rodriguez, an extraordinary player who has had less than extraordinary results in the post-season, a new contract in the range of $350 million.
With the exception of Rodriguez, it’s usually Boras and not the players who are accused of greed after big contracts are signed.
And sometimes, too, it’s Boras, and not the team owners, who is blamed by fans for high ticket and hot dog prices.
Boras, though, would seem to be able to take the heat, believing he has a role to play. “There’s a clear need for someone to represent the athlete and to explain the athlete’s value,” he told the New Yorker. “If that person is characterized as a villain, well, so be it.”