Sell Stock In Boras Corp?

You probably missed it, but the Oregionian had a very humorous piece last week which aimed to get in the mind of Scott Boras [Deep thoughts with Scott Boras]. This was one of his generated thoughts:

Indicted?

Thank you, Barry.

Ain’t nobody going to have the time to pile on ol’ Scott now. Indicted. Indicted. Indicted. ESPN’s going to slug this baby as “Breaking News” for the next week and a half. Got news for you, Mouseketeers. This story is broken.

Barry Bonds’ indictment definitely did take the spotlight off of A-Rod a little bit and had people distracted from ripping on Boras for his big valuation mistake. In fact, all of this Bonds nonsense coupled with a big college football weekend and another day of NFL games have had people ignoring all things Boras. But I would never let some important sports agent information pass you by.

In fact, ESPN does not want you to miss this story (they posted two versions on their website), but mainstream media just cannot seem to cover it. Scott Boras lost a very high profile client. His name is Kenny Rogers. And it occurred in the wake of this whole Alex Rodriguez fiasco.

It seems like Boras is forgetting what it means to be an agent, and only concerning himself with the money involved in the business of sports. Hell, even Warren Buffett had to bail him out by giving A-Rod some good advice, which allowed him to save his image. The public first got a glimpse of this when Boras had A-Rod opt out of his very nice former contract with the Yankees for more money than was seemingly possible to acquire. Now, the Detroit Tigers expressed their interest in Rogers, Rogers expressed his interest in the Tigers, and Boras seemed more concerned with seeking out other options [Lefty Rogers fires agent Boras, will represent himself].

I certainly can’t blame the guy for trying to get as much money for his clients, but at the same time, he needs to realize that money is not everything. That is especially true for someone who has already earned a bunch of money and would like to keep a good reputation (A-Rod) or a player who has made top dollars, wants to play in a certain city, and is at the end of his career at the age of 43 (Rogers).

Could Boras Corp have reached its peak? Is it on its way down? If so, it would clear the way for many new, smaller agents and agencies (cough, Dynasty Athlete Representation, cough) that have been restricted in going after baseball’s top talent because of Boras’ top dollar guarantees. Many young players putting their names into the MLB draft believe that the only thing that matters is their signing bonuses and would like to sign with agents who will negotiate until they receive the highest possible salary. But this trend may change as youngsters notice that older players are beginning to become ungrateful with agents who only care about the amount of digits in their contracts.

It will be interesting to note if more clients end up leaving Boras Corp or if young players entering the draft begin to migrate to other agencies.

Stay calm, Scott. Think. Think, darn it! Think!

-Darren Heitner