If it’s a major baseball event where executives and agents are gathered, you can bet that superagent Scott Boras will be in attendance, in the middle of a media scrum, and tossing out one-liners.
Mixed in, he also offers a player-friendly perspective on the state of the game, as well as tidbits about some of his players. To that end, there were quite a few items of note this evening.
On Addison Russell:
Boras said he's been in communication with Cubs, and that they're directly involved with Russell as he's undergoing therapy.
Does he expect him back with Cubs after suspension ends:“… I have no expectation otherwise and I have not been told anything otherwise.”
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) November 7, 2018
Agent Scott Boras was asked if Addison Russell's acceptance of a suspension as part of MLB's domestic violence policy is now an admission of guilt after denying he did anything wrong previously. He began to answer it then pivoted a little: "Anytime you… https://t.co/PzS8p6eJ46
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 8, 2018
Boras: "Addison is getting therapy. Addison is growing and understanding the responsibilities of his team, his league, his city. The learning curve of this is good for everybody. It’s been really, really good for Addison going forward.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) November 8, 2018
As with the front office, I wouldn’t necessarily expect the public message to be anything different right now. And serving discipline while getting therapy is certainly an important part of the process for Russell. In my view, there also needs to be a public part of this process if he were ever going to return to the extremely public-facing job on the infield for the Chicago Cubs. The issue is bigger than just Russell and just the Cubs, so if they truly want to be part of a meaningful, impactful solution, this moment cannot just be about a suspension, some therapy, and boom he’s back on the field for the Cubs.
Boras touched on Bryce Harper and the pursuit or non-pursuit of the teams in Chicago:
Scott Boras was not interested in talking directly about the Cubs or Sox being landing places for Bryce Harper . He did say that because both are staring new regional TV networks “Washington tripled their viewership on their regional network since Bryce arrived”
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) November 7, 2018
Boras on Harper/superstars as programming of new network (i.e., Cubs):
"Those things show a lot better than Andy and Mayberry."— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) November 7, 2018
He did, you’ll note, get somewhat directly into the Yankees as non-pursuers:
Boras is skeptical of rumors that the Yankees are not in on Harper: “This is a submarine race, not a regatta”
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) November 7, 2018
The implication there, applicable (in theory) to the Cubs, too, is that teams are not going to be showing their hand when it comes to a free agent like Harper.
Scott Boras on Bryce Harper: “Certainly Harper’s bazaar has begun. It’s fashionable. It’s historical. It’s elite. Global certainly. And certainly it has inspirations that deal with great shoes and great hair.”
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 7, 2018
Boras also took on tanking, in which he obviously has a self-interest, but that doesn’t mean he’s entirely wrong:
Boras criticizing lack of $ spent to stay competitive has led to large MLB attendance decline. Noted LSU baseball larger avg attendance than the #Marlins. “The fans of the Marlins have brought the M-I-A to Miami”
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 7, 2018
“We have a cancer” says Boras about a system in such things as the draft that rewards systemic losing. Said teams that try to win and say go from 65 to 75 wins should be rewarded.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) November 7, 2018
You are reminded that the league intentional did whatever it could over the past decade to continuously restrict the ways clubs could spend aggressively on amateur talent. The result? Losing games and trading away big league pieces became all the more attractive to even large market clubs. This is what an unintended consequence looks like.