Super-agent Scott Boras praises Blue Jays' market might

SAN ANTONIO — Speaking to a crowd of reporters at baseball’s general managers meetings, Scott Boras answered question after question about Juan Soto before the topic turned from the sport’s top free agent to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The powerful agent, who six years ago said the team had a case of the “blue flu,” took a vastly different tone at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa on Wednesday morning. He spoke of great potential for the Blue Jays, referencing the September deal in which Rogers Communications Inc. purchased Bell’s 37.5 per cent share of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for $4.7 billion.

"I think the Blue Jays are in a new state of being with Edward (Rogers, the executive chair of Rogers Communications Inc., which owns the team, along with Sportsnet), being where he is (and) his commitment to sports in total,” Boras said. “I think as a businessman, for his operation and communications, he's a behemoth in sport. There really are few in sport that are (at that level), I've been saying this about Toronto for years, and now with the recent (consolidation) of hockey and basketball and soccer, I would imagine that he probably wants to be involved in some other sports where they wear helmets, I don't know.

“But the idea of it is that there is really no ownership group that has that level of investment and then distribution to a nation unilaterally in 40 million people,” Boras continued. “So it's a sports entertainment juggernaut and should be viewed as such."

Boras has indeed regularly made similar comments about the Blue Jays during his annual sessions with media at the GM Meetings, although him hinting at the pursuit of a National Football League team is a new wrinkle.

But he stopped short of suggesting how that financial might could tie into a pursuit of Soto or any of his other top-of-the-market free agents, saying, “I’m not going to talk about specific teams” as they relate to the superstar outfielder.

“I can just say that this is about owner commitment,” he said, “it's about illustrating to Juan Soto that his objectives are going to be met, about wanting to win and win consistently because that's what makes the game fun for him and motivates him.”

The Blue Jays are expected to remain engaged on Soto in case the market breaks their way, although they’re not considered to be among his prime suitors, like the Yankees and Mets. It’s akin to their pursuit of Shohei Ohtani last off-season and their involvement in the Gerrit Cole sweepstakes during the 2019-20 off-season, two other free agents that were viewed as special opportunities that would have likely been covered by a special payroll allocation, rather than from the set budget.

Amid the many promotional spiels for his impressive slate of clients, Boras described Soto in those terms as well, calling him an all-time great that is an opportunity both on and off the field for the team that signs him. 

"When you have something that no one else has in the player community and the talent arena, you have the jewel, you have the Mona Lisa of the museum, you have the attraction,” said Boras. “You also have somebody that allows for owners to win repeatedly. When owners win repeatedly, their revenues skyrocket. They develop the impact of post-season play, attendance, rights in the streaming world, what those rights may mean — all of those things are going to generate (revenue). Plus, the international branding. ... And he has literally 15 years more of his time to offer.” 

Other news and notes from the second full day of the GM Meetings: 

KIKUCHI HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER

In a market that features lots of starting pitching, Yusei Kikuchi's drawing lots of interest, according to Boras. Not only did the left-hander post a 4.05 ERA in 175.2 innings with 206 strikeouts between the Blue Jays and Astros in 2024, his mid-season trade means teams don't have to give up a draft pick to sign him.

"Not having a qualifying offer because he was traded, you see a whole menu of teams that would not normally be participating for a starter at that level,” Boras said. “For that reason, he's one of the most sought after players in free agency.”

Kikuchi has said many times that he’d be open to returning to the Blue Jays, who are interested in deepening their pitching staff with another starter. Exploring that market means going through Boras, who represents free agents Corbin Burnes, Sean Manaea, Blake Snell, Nick Martinez, Matthew Boyd and Max Scherzer, among others.

O’NEILL’S MARKET: ‘VERY STRONG’ 

In 113 games for the Red Sox this past season, Tyler O'Neill hit 31 home runs with an .847 OPS, numbers that will draw teams to the 29-year-old Canadian as he hits free agency for the first time. As Boras sees it, O’Neill’s right-handed bat differentiates him from other available players.

“If any of you have seen the structure and stature of Tyler O'Neill, you know he can carry an offence,” Boras said. “There are no right-handed bats in this game with power. When you go back and you look at the history of the game, our number of right-handed bats and I think it has to do with the pitch tech and how they're pitched as well, but the number of production where you can get 20 home runs, let alone 30 home runs out of a right-handed bat, they're just not available. There are few teams that have anything like that in their lineup. Because Tyler is a two-way player, he's won a Gold Glove, is a guy with power, he's going to have a very strong free-agent experience.”

ALMOST ALVAREZ 

Here’s an eye-popping sliding-doors moment for the Blue Jays from the 2015 international signing period, when they landed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for $3.9 million – they also worked out Yordan Alvarez and seriously considered a major offer but internal opinion was split he ended up with the Dodgers.

The Astros slugger ended up with the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 15, 2016, the final day of that signing period, for a $2 million bonus, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reported at the time. A month and a half later, he was dealt to the Astros at the deadline for reliever Josh Fields.

For the Blue Jays, signing Alvarez for a similar sum would have meant even more severe overage penalties. Guerrero’s $3.9 million deal had already prompted them to trade prospects Chase De Jong and Tim Locastro to the Dodgers for three spending slots totalling $1,071,300, cutting their penalty from being unable to sign players for more than $300,000 in the following two international signing periods to just one signing period.