Scott Boras, the most powerful agent in Major League Baseball, stepped up on his platform — literally — and addressed a horde of reporters at the general managers meetings in Las Vegas.
In pre-planned remarks, Boras called Carlos Correa the “Prada of the Postseason,” used a Pixar reference to describe outfielder Brandon Nimmo and attached a Marvel pun to Xander Bogaerts.
Another Boras client, Carlos Rodón, is hitting free agency after a brilliant season with the Giants. Rodón exercised the opt-out in his contract to hit the open market after leading MLB in FIP (2.25) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.0).
According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, Boras said Rodón is “the only one of his kind” available on the free agent market this winter.
In San Francisco, Rodón broke the franchise record for double-digit strikeout games and pitched a career-high 178 innings. He never hit the injured list and finished second among all pitchers in Fangraphs WAR.
Other starting pitchers on the free agent market include Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom. But age, injury risk or a combination of both will likely prevent all three of them from signing a long-term contract.
Rodón, meanwhile, is projected to ink a five-year deal worth roughly $130 million.
The Giants, under president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, have been hesitant to hand out such contracts. Last year, they let Kevin Gausman walk under similar circumstances. The longest contract SF has dished out to a starting pitcher is Anthony DeSclafani’s three-year, $36 million deal.
But perhaps last year’s 81-81 misstep changes San Francisco’s thinking. The Giants had their lowest average attendance in a non-pandemic year since moving to the Third and King ballpark.
That’s a factor Boras is aware of. According to The San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea, Boras said he expects the Giants to be very aggressive in pursuing free agents.
Free agency officially begins Thursday, Nov. 10.
