Super Agent Scott Boras sets Blue Jays up for more disappointment with Bregman and Alonso leverage plays
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The Toronto Blue Jays are set up for even more heartbreak all thanks to Scott Boras and his clients, Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman.
First baseman Pete Alonso wants to keep working with agent Scott Boras amid his ongoing free agency, which still sees the four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger without a team even as the calendar approaches February.
Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported the situation, adding that other MLB agents have been told that they can't reach out to Alonso unless he initiates conversations.
If Boras Corp. were a marketing agency, Scott Boras would have complete creative control. MLB's superagent has already made his buck this winter after Juan Soto agreed to a $765 million deal.
This is about pride, as Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman are just two of the latest Boras clients to wait well into the winter in pursuit of a long-term deal which meets their expectations.
So far, Boras hasn't flinched, but his playbook is well-known. Boras tends to leak information to the media for leverage, in hopes of pressuring interested parties to increase their offers.
Regarding Alonso and Boras New York Mets owner Steve Cohen didn't hold back.
«We made a significant offer to Pete,» Cohen told fans and media. However, the owner doesn't «like the structures that are being presented back to us. I think it's highly asymmetric against us, and I feel strongly about it. I will never say no, you know, there's always the possibility [of an agreement]. But the reality is we're moving forward, and as we continue to bring in players, the reality is it becomes harder to fit Pete into what is a very expensive group of players that we already have.»
«And that's where we are, and I am being brutally honest. I don't like the negotiations. I don't like what's been presented to us. Listen, maybe that changes, and certainly, I'll always stay flexible. If it stays this way, I think we are going to have to get used to the fact that we may have to go forward with the existing players that we have.»
The exact specifics of Scott Boras' offers to the New York Mets aren't known, though the concept floated was a three-year contract with at least one opt-out clause, which would allow Alonso to test free agency again likely as early as next offseason.
It was interesting to hear an owner speak so candidly about front office matters, nobody ever hears from Blue Jays owner Edward Rogers on any subject regarding the club.
It didn't take long for Scott Boras, to offer a response to Cohen's sentiment, which was conveyed in a January 25 article from The Athletic's Will Sammon.
«Pete's free-agent contract structure request are identical to the standards and practices of other clubs who have signed similarly situated qualifying-offer/all-star level players,» Boras said. «Nothing different. Just established fairness standards," Boras said.
Sportsnet's Jeff Blair, reiterated Alonso signing north of the border is a stretch.
Steve Cohen and the New York Mets responded to Boras's bad intentions with more hardball, eventually those two sides will realize they need each other.
Toronto, once again, is just a ploy until proven otherwise.
As far as Bregman goes On Tuesday, Houston Astros GM Dana Brown said,
"I would mostly say it's all internal conversations as to what we would like to do in terms of Bregman." Asked a few days earlier whether the door is shut, Brown hesitated and replied, "I would say it's cracked." At another point he said it's a "long shot."
Bob Nightengale appeared on Area 45 with Bijani and Creighton and discussed the possibility of a Bregman reunion with the Astros.
Per Bob Nightengale, the six-year, $156 million contract the Astros offered Bregman in December is still on the table, but the Toronto Blue Jays have also made their own six-year offer.
Teams like the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers haven't been willing to give Bregman a long-term offer.
This definitely adds more pressure for the Astros to work out a deal before Bregman gets impatient.
In that sense, if this were a Boras negotiating ploy, it was well-executed.
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