© Isaiah J. Downing | 2017 Sep 4
Super agent Scott Boras joined KNBR on Thursday afternoon to discuss a number of wide-ranging topics. In addition to providing some details on the negotiations between the Giants and Bryce Harper, Boras also broke some news, saying he has been in contact with Giants VP of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi regarding free agent outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
“Farhan and I discussed him and they are looking into it, yeah,” Boras told Larry Krueger.
Gonzalez, 33, is a three-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glover, and has spent the previous ten seasons with the Rockies. Gonzalez is coming off a strong season in which he posted a slash line of .276/.329/.467 and played excellent defense, yet is having a difficult time generating interest on the open market. Boras tried to explain why.
“I have a player, Carlos Gonzalez, he’s an .800 OPS and he’s the best defensive player in right field and I can tell you he can substantially help the Giants and many other teams,” Boras said. “They won’t employ (veteran free agents). And the reason they won’t employ them I think has to do with the fact of mere budgetary concerns, and they’re going to put players out there that I think are of lesser quality and ability.
“I don’t think there’s a justification for it, because the major leagues should always be about the best player. Who is the best player. We want the league and the brand, and the worldwide brand is the best baseball in the world is Major League Baseball. And to keep that brand we have to make sure our players, and the level of play, is always the best players available to be put in the league.
“This system they’ve created, this analytic abyss they’ve now created an excuse, some methodology that I don’t think is proving true, that suggests that these players are not of value. Granted there aren’t many of them, there’s maybe 40 or 50 of these players that above 30 are everyday players in the major leagues, but a good 10 to 15 of them that are excluded from the league prematurely, merely because a choice of the luxury tax and other teams saying ‘I don’t want to go over.’”
The Giants are currently slated to enter the regular season with Steven Duggar, Mac Williamson, and Gerardo Parra as their projected starting outfield.
Listen to the full interview below.