LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. • In a wide-ranging conversation that was studded with rhinestone buzzwords like "Playoffville" and "big squirrel with a lot of nuts," agent Scott Boras met with the assembled baseball press to offer his views on everything from the current free-agent market to tanking to, yes, how the New York Mets could have "palatial" accommodations in "Playoffville."
The Mets, he added, just have to decide when to begin construction.
Some quick bullet points of interest from Boras or concerning Boras clients that will be of interest to Cardinals' fans:
- Matt Holliday, hampered by a virus late in the 2017 season, intends to play in 2018, and he is a free agent.
- Trevor Rosenthal has received interest from a handful of teams who would like to sign him to a two-year deal that gives him a salary for 2018 as he recover from elbow surgery. It's possible Rosenthal declines all those offers, does not pitch at all in 2018, and then goes after a Greg Holland-like deal for 2019.
- There is a strong market for first baseman Eric Hosmer, and yes the teams that have at least expressed interest includes the Cardinals. He was described by a source as "a good fit" for what the Cardinals want to do for their lineup.
- Boras does not dig defensive metrics.
- Just saying.
- He seriously is not a fan of the defensive metrics that suggest J.D. Martinez is not that strong of a defender in the outfield. Boras takes issue with them. Not sure how Boras feels about the scouts and executives who suggest the same thing.
After meeting with the media, Boras said he had some additional conversations scheduled with owners. The owners, including Bill DeWitt Jr. and Bill DeWitt III of the Cardinals, took over the Waldorf Astoria Orlando on Wednesday as the GM Meetings shifted to the commissioners' owners meetings.
The Cardinals front office left the Disney area Wednesday afternoon, and they did so having met with the Marlins about their cavalcade of options, including more information on what the Marlins are trying to get in return for Giancarlo Stanton.
The Cardinals also met with the agents for, well, probably all of the relievers that they have interest in, and even agents for some of the relievers they don't have interest in. That includes the reps for Addison Reed and Brandon Morrow, and they had talks with the agent for righthander Luke Gregerson. All were likely fact-gathering, or they were described exactly that way, "fact-gathering."
The Cardinals have interest in Boras' client Greg Holland, and the Cardinals have a few other reasons to talk with Boras throughout this process and into the winter meetings next month, including outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
In the meantime, here's what Boras was talking about today. He framed all of his comments around this gorgeous gated community of high-payroll, high-spending, high-achieving teams that he called "Playoffville."
On the Cubs' financial wherewithal to do what they want ...
"This isn’t the windy city, this is the economic hurricane in Chicago with what the Cubs have done. It is something where it is the value of the franchise, the amount of money that is rolling in, the revenues annually and in the future. ... The Cubs can do whatever they choose to do in this free agent market and the next."
On where teams that are willing to go beyond the luxury tax because baseball's revenue will cover the penalty ...
"That neighborhood is Playoffville."
More on Playoffville ...
"The team cutting payroll is treating their family where they're staying in a neighborhood that has less protection. They’re not living in the gated community of Playoffville. Certainly they’re saving the minimum property tax but the reality of it is there is less fireman in the bullpen, there is less financial analysts sitting in the press box and the idea of the general talent, the rooms in the house are less. So obviously you’re going to have less franchise players. When you move to that 12-room home in Playoffville they generally are filled with the people that allow you to really achieve what your family, your regional family, wants to achieve – and that is winning."
On teams that get revenue from Major League Baseball and yet seem to have payrolls that are less than what the automatic revenue is ...
"It's Casper Finance. Where is the ghost? Where is it going?"
On how tanking teams should face a stiff financial penalty for tinkering with the integrity of the game and warping division races and skewing stats (hear hear) ...
"If you do choose to do this -- you have the right to do this -- you will suffer economical penalties for creating records that are below 50, 60 and your purchase price may be added to while you reduce it, which will they can choose to do that? But a restraint. That it’s not good business to do this. It’s always good business to have a competitive team. I think we always create a structure where we can increase competitiveness and integrity of the game and then we’re not looking for loopholes that allow clubs to buy franchises and then essentially pay them off (on debt service, cutting salaries and tanking) then they turn around and sell them 10, 12 years later and the game isn’t benefiting."
On Cubs starter Jake Arrieta, a free agent ...
"He’s a big squirrel with a lot of nuts in his trees."
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