Scott Boras

Scott Boras (born November 2, 1952 in Sacramento, California, USA) is a prominent sports agent for professional baseball players. He is the president of Scott Boras Corporation, which has its headquarters in Sacramento, California. He has represented many of the highest-paid players in baseball and brokered a number of high-publicity deals, including those of Alex Rodriguez and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

"Superagent"

Today, Boras runs the Scott Boras Corporation , where he employs former major leaguers as scouts in Asia and Latin America. He has continued to negotiate deals for many of Major League Baseball's high-profile players in recent years, including Barry Zito, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez. Rodríguez's deal for $275 million over 10 years is the most expensive contract per year ever guaranteed in U.S. professional sports. (David Beckham's reported $250 million/5 year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy includes only about $50 million of salary guaranteed to Beckham. The rest of the sum includes possible endorsement benefits and profit sharing not included in the scope of Rodríguez's contract). Notably, Boras negotiated a seven-year, $87.5 million deal for former New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams.

Perhaps one of the most intriguing deals Boras worked out was between Kevin Millwood and Cleveland Indians general manager Mark Shapiro in 2005. This contract included performance clauses that would reduce his client's salary if he missed playing time due to arm problems. Another one of Boras's clients signed a huge contract on December 20, 2005. Johnny Damon left the Boston Red Sox and signed with the New York Yankees. Boras negotiated a four-year, $52 million deal for Damon. Jason Varitek, a catcher for the Boston Red Sox, received a 4-year, $40 million contract courtesy of Boras's negotiations in December of 2004. In particular, Boras broke a deadlock over Varitek's requirement for a no-trade clause (which, if allowed, would have triggered no-trade clauses with several other Sox stars) with his proposal that the Sox create a rule that they would not trade any player who had been on the team for eight years, a rule that applied only to Varitek and pitcher Tim Wakefield. Boras delivered another high-priced free agent to Boston in November of 2006 when J.D. Drew signed a $70 million contract with Boston, a deal which was finalized on January 25, 2007. On December 28, 2006 it was announced that Boras client Barry Zito had signed a 7 year, $126 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. This is the second largest deal ever for a pitcher. Johan Santana's $137.5 million contract with the Mets in 2008 eclipsed Zito's mark.

Criticism

Boras is widely regarded as a tough negotiator. He has secured contracts for his clients that pay more than some expected those players to earn. This has led critics to dub Boras "baseball's most hated man". His critics claim that Boras' big money contracts hurt the game, for example, by widening the gap between rich and poor teams, and may not always be beneficial for the players he represents.

Boras is sometimes credited with changing the dynamics of the amateur draft. He has been known to advise his clients to turn down a deal (and continue with either college-ball or semi-pro ball) if the signing bonus was below an amount acceptable to them. Some teams have avoided drafting Boras's clients in baseball's amateur draft for this reason, most notably the Chicago White Sox , whose owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, has a feud with Boras.

During Game 4 of the 2007 World Series, Boras announced that Alex Rodriguez had opted out of his contract with the New York Yankees, which gained much criticism because of the timing. It has been called a "selfish" move to draw attention from the Series by some.

Scott Boras clients

Because of his reputation as a tough negotiator, Boras's name is not attached to his clients' marketing. He set up a separate company, Impact Marketing, to handle all of their endorsements, appearances and autograph signings. His client list is estimated to be about 65.

Although Alex Rodriguez did not formally sever ties with Boras, Rodriguez later negotiated a new contract with the New York Yankees-- doing so without Boras-- after originally opting out of the final three years of a 10-year, $252 million contract. Some news sources say Boras gave Rodriguez "bad advice" in encouraging him to opt out and that Boras had demanded a $350 million offer from the Yankees "just to talk" about Rodriguez staying with the team. Rodriguez instead chose to employ a managing director of Goldman Sachs to negotiate a deal with the Yankees. The Yankees had refused to speak with Rodriguez had Boras been involved.

On December 17, 2007, Variety reported that Alex Rodriguez fired Scott Boras, and hired former record company executive Gus Oseary as his agent.

Left-handed Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers announced on November 16, 2007 that he had fired Boras as his agent and would deal directly with teams when negotiating his contract for the 2008 season.

Former client Gary Sheffield said he was a "bad person."

On February 22, 2008, Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramírez announced Scott Boras is now his agent.

External links

• "The Extortionist" - The New Yorker, October 29, 2007
• "The Boras Factor" - May 2007 feature in LA Weekly
• BaseballLibrary.com: Scott Boras
• "Scott Boras, Motherhood, and Apple Pie" - feature on Slate
• Agent Scott Boras is changing the business of baseball - from U.S. News and World Report
• Official website of Boras' agency