Red Sox: Off Season 2024-2025

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

Boras is the Vladimir Putin of athletes’ representation!

And that's where JB comes in.

[notin]

16 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Has to be JB, man.  In the first 4 movies, at least.  After that things got a little inconsistent.

5 movies.  Include “You Only Live Twice”

I suppose Boras’ clients would suffer if he was replaced with George Lazenby…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Boras is the Vladimir Putin of athletes’ representation!

Wha -- no authoritarian dictators allowed on the forum.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, notin said:

5 movies.  Include “You Only Live Twice”

Even at the age of 11 I could detect a slide in quality when I saw that one.  Very unmemorable.

[notin]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Even at the age of 11 I could detect a slide in quality when I saw that one.  Very unmemorable.

It’s still Casablanca compared to Octopussy or the Timothy Dalton years…

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s still Casablanca compared to Octopussy or the Timothy Dalton years…

Octopussy is far superior to Casablanca because it's in color and features James Bond in a crocodile submersible. 

"Of all the croc joints in all the towns in the world, she swims into mine."

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gatoring is going on in here." 

"Bellow it, Sam."

"We'll always have the Nile." 

[notin]

23 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Octopussy is far superior to Casablanca because it's in color and features James Bond in a crocodile submersible. 

"Of all the croc joints in all the towns in the world, she swims into mine."

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gatoring is going on in here." 

"Bellow it, Sam."

"We'll always have the Nile." 

Instead of  “here’s looking at you, kid”, at least Bogie didn’t say “see ya later, alligator”…

 

[vegasbob]

Just in case the Sox FO determines it needs another LH hitting OF'er with a bad attitude, keep A. Verdugo in mind.   Suyrpise to Alex that no team has chosen to sign him. 

If he only hit RH !    

On a more realistic note,   Breslow might regret sitting so long on Grichuk .  

[Bellhorn04]

13 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

On a more realistic note,   Breslow might regret sitting so long on Grichuk .  

Breslow can't do much with the $2 million left in his budget. 😉 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Breslow can't do much with the $2 million left in his budget. 😉 

Paul DeJong

RHB

Good Defender

Experience at 3B

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

OK, so who's better and why?  The onus is on you to support your case.

I don't think the best means the most clients. Is McDonalds "the Best" burger joint?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Breslow can't do much with the $2 million left in his budget. 😉 

He could pay it to us, to stop us from twiddling our typing fingers in another winter waiting for moments that just won't come.

I'm a Red Sox fan, so I'm not expecting anything -- just speculating everything.

[mvp 78]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't think the best means the most clients. Is McDonalds "the Best" burger joint?

The most people will say it's the best. 

[Bellhorn04]

45 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't think the best means the most clients. Is McDonalds "the Best" burger joint?

Who is better than Boras and why? 

Admit it, you've got no response to those questions.

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Who is better than Boras and why? 

Admit it, you've got no response to those questions.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/agents

The only agencies close to Boras are Wasserman and CAA IMO. Boras' name seems to come up more than others, but I'm not running a spreadsheet on this one. 

[dgalehouse]

Who is the " best" is usually very subjective. Depends on your criteria as well as your personal likes and dislikes. Boras is, without a doubt, the best known and most successful player's agent in the business. 

[notin]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Paul DeJong

RHB

Good Defender

Experience at 3B

If Devers has a fit for getting moved off 3b for DeJong, I would understand…

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The most people will say it's the best. 

I think most people call it “most affordable” and “most familiar”, but that’s not the same as “best”…

[notin]

43 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

Who is the " best" is usually very subjective. Depends on your criteria as well as your personal likes and dislikes. Boras is, without a doubt, the best known and most successful player's agent in the business. 

Thinking Boras isn’t the best agent because you focus on his failed attempt to get his clients what they want is a one-sided argument.  Dont his competitors have failures, too?  And do their failures still wind up doing as well as Boras’?

[harmony]

10 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

No comps.

The big name players obviously still favor him, but these last 2 offseasons might raise a few doubts.

Scott Boras landed a guaranteed 2025 salary of $30 million for Pete Alonso, who last year posted 2.1 fWAR, valued at $16.7 million:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/pete-alonso/19251/stats?position=1B#value

The 30-year-old Alonso can opt out after the 2025 season or return in 2026 for $24 million, which still exceeds the $22.8 million value of his 2.8 fWAR in 2023.

Could another agent have negotiated a better deal?

[harmony]

6 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Breslow can't do much with the $2 million left in his budget. 😉 

Boston CBO Craig Breslow spoke this week with beat reporters Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGKIgLFLr5I

 

 

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Thinking Boras isn’t the best agent because you focus on his failed attempt to get his clients what they want is a one-sided argument.  Dont his competitors have failures, too?  And do their failures still wind up doing as well as Boras’?

Nobody ever said he was not the best because of the many failures. 

I questioned who sets the criteria?

Certainly, if the criteria is most money contracted, there is no argument. Maybe, if a customer satisfaction survey was sent out to every player who ever signed a contract and turned in, he'd win that one, too- by sheer numbers, probably yes, but by percent of happy clients, who knows?

It's impossible to know which agent gets the most money vs expected money on a percentage basis, which would probably be a better criteria, but who sets those numbers would be highly questionable. Maybe, someone could take MLBTR's top 50 FA projections and dollar amounts and see which agent gets more, by percentage than others. (This year, Soto, alone would make Borass the clear winner.)

I'm just questioning the criteria- just like I firmly believe McDonalds is not even close to the best burger joint. They don't even make my top 20 list, but by the criteria used on Boras, there is no discussion: McDonalds is the best. Period.

I disagree.

I'm not sure who is better than Boras, and I'm not even sure what I'd pinpoint as my criteria to determine who is the best, but it would not be all about who makes the most money for players that could make a ton representing themselves. How much more does he make for them? How much more do the other top agents make "extra" vs the norm?

Probably impossible to determine, so let's all just say the guy who has the most big-named clients has to be the best. Are Johnnie Cochran & Alan Dershowitz the best lawyers in America?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, harmony said:

Scott Boras landed a guaranteed 2025 salary of $30 million for Pete Alonso, who last year posted 2.1 fWAR, valued at $16.7 million:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/pete-alonso/19251/stats?position=1B#value

The 30-year-old Alonso can opt out after the 2025 season or return in 2026 for $24 million, which still exceeds the $22.8 million value of his 2.8 fWAR in 2023.

Could another agent have negotiated a better deal?

How can we ever know?

For one thing, we don't even know if Alonso chose the best deal.

MLBTR projected $125M/5 and he got $54M/2, but it seems like 1Bman value cratered, this winter. That can't be blamed on BorA$$.

Soto was projected at $600M/13 and got $765M/15.  POW-SAH!

Burnes $200/7> $210M>6

Bregman $182M/7> TBD

Snell $160M/5>$182M/5

W Adames $160M/6>$182M/7

Fried $156M/6> $218M/8

Alonso $125M/5> $54M/2 looks like the worst deal, so far, until the next one...

Flaherty $115M/5> $35M/2

Santander $80M/4>$93M/5

Manaea $60M/3> $75M/3, Teoscar $60M/3>$66M/3, Kikuchi $60M>63M, Walker 60>60

T Scott $56/4>$72M/4, Severino $51/3>$67M/3

That's the top 15. I'm not even sure how many of these guys are w Borass.

[Larry Cook]

9 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Hardly anyone can even name other player agents - I mean real names of individuals, not names of agencies - without running to Google.  

And why doesn’t this get more publicity, especially where free agents and huge contracts are concerned 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

And why doesn’t this get more publicity, especially where free agents and huge contracts are concerned 

Nobody has to google Burger King.

[Hitch]

17 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Breslow can't do much with the $2 million left in his budget. 😉 

He's been on Masslive again saying the budget is there to spend if the right player comes along. 

That player was Alonso for the contract he got. Share 1B/DH with Casas, Hit a bag full of HR's and then opt out, or at worst we're only stuck with hm for one more year.  You've got your RH power bat, and you're not blocking any prospects. It would have meant another year of Devers at 3rd, but you can't win em all.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

He's been on Masslive again saying the budget is there to spend if the right player comes along. 

That player was Alonso for the contract he got. Share 1B/DH with Casas, Hit a bag full of HR's and then opt out, or at worst we're only stuck with hm for one more year.  You've got your RH power bat, and you're not blocking any prospects. It would have meant another year of Devers at 3rd, but you can't win em all.

One year for a QO guy? Pass.

[Bellhorn04]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Probably impossible to determine, so let's all just say the guy who has the most big-named clients has to be the best. Are Johnnie Cochran & Alan Dershowitz the best lawyers in America?

The fact that Boras keeps getting hired by the biggest number of top players after all these years is a very reasonable criterion for thinking he's the best.  You haven't really presented any alternatives, you just keep throwing out unanswerable questions and trying to lead us down the rabbit hole.

As for Dershowitz, I don't know about best, but he's clearly a brilliant lawyer and legal mind.  

[Hitch]

37 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

One year for a QO guy? Pass.

Depends if your aim/hope is to see the Sox in the playoffs or not this year. Mine is. Alonso gives you a very strong chance of making the play offs which in turns gets us a chance at the ring. 

I'm perfectly fine expending a compensatory pick for that, especially as we'll be getting one back. 

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Depends if your aim/hope is to see the Sox in the playoffs or not this year. Mine is. Alonso gives you a very strong chance of making the play offs which in turns gets us a chance at the ring. 

These things don't seem so important to the Sox and even to a lot of fans any more.