MLB super agent Scott Boras complimenting the Mets? In this economy? It happened, folks.
One of the highlights at the outset of every offseason is listening to Boras address the media. That happened Wednesday in Las Vegas during the GM Meetings. The man didn’t disappoint. Here are a handful of his best sound bites:
Scott Boras was in his BAG today ?? pic.twitter.com/EUC3z8lsdZ
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) November 9, 2022
You’d have to believe that legendary Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling loves this annual event, too.
Outside of building up his clients as they’re about to officially enter free agency, he also comments on the state of the game and how teams are trying to build rosters. What does Boras think about the Mets, you ask? Well, he said some nice things about the organization that’s now led by Steve Cohen (quote via New York Post):
When [owner] Steve Cohen reached out and signed Scherzer he really raised the flag that, ‘We’re here to be a championship-level organization.’ And the influence of Max on a team … I think it brought real credible illustration to what the new Met organization is about and that had not been there for a long time.
My oh my, how things change. It feels like just yesterday that Boras used his platform to make fun of how the Mets were operating.
Back during the 2011-12 offseason, both the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers were in a much different situation. L.A. was in the final days of the Frank McCourt ownership era and didn’t have much money to spend on top talent. Meanwhile, New York was still reeling from the Bernie Madoff scandal and had then-GM Sandy Alderson in payroll-slashing mode.
When asked about those organizations back then, Boras said they were shopping in the “fruits and nuts” section of the supermarket. The Dodgers were under new ownership the following winter, and the agent then quipped that Los Angeles “bought the store” this time around. But what about the Mets ahead of the 2013 season? Not much had changed in their situation at that time, and Boras expressed his feelings about it.
Instead of the fruits and nuts section, he said this (quote via New York Post):
I think the Mets, maybe the best you can say, they might be in the freezer section. But there’s a lot of good, long-standing products they can acquire.
Well, those comments making fun of the Mets’ spending habits will be nothing but a distant memory for the rest of his career. All it took was a decade, a $2 billion sale of the franchise, and a record contract for Max Scherzer to make it happen.
Not that big of a deal, right? Right.
After watching the ups and downs that were the Wilpon-era Mets, this is truly a breath of fresh air. Mets fans will never again have to worry about if a player will be too expensive for them to hold onto. New York might set its own boundaries in negotiations, but everyone knows that if Cohen and his front office think a certain move is necessary to move the team forward to pursue a championship, then it’ll happen.
That was on full display last winter when New York signed Scherzer, Mark Canha, Eduardo Escobar, and Starling Marte in the span of a week. It was on display again when there was a roster decision to be made at the beginning of May. Instead of keeping Robinson Cano around simply because of his $20 million salary, they cut him because it was the right baseball move to make.
And when they had to make a decision to pay Edwin Diaz a record amount of money or look elsewhere for a lockdown closer, New York decided to do the former.
From what we can see, that agreement with Diaz is just the start of what will be a very active winter for this club. Will it include adding a couple of Scott Boras clients to their roster? That is now — and forever will continue to be — a possibility. Just a few short years ago, he’d laugh at the possibility of entertaining any interest from the Mets.
It’s much more fun to be on the good side of Boras’ sound bites instead of the bad side.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
