Scott Boras was the center of attention at the GM Meetings today at the Boca Raton resort today in Florida. Boras had many subjects to talk about today which included talk on everything from Bryce Harper to Max Scherzer to Stephen Strasburg to Denard Span.
The other agents name that sounds like “Boras” is Jeff Borris who is recognized by few. He’s the agent at Beverly Hills Sports Council and reps Darren O’Day who is the most popular reliever this year given the very light crop of Free Agent relievers. Even the bullpen rich Royals are rumored to have their GM, Dayton Moore, in touch with Borris.
The center of the universe at the SB meeting!
A source of ours says that Mike Rizzo has checked in with Casey Close of Excel Sports Management and that should not surprise anyone as Casey’s group reps Jason Heyward, Alex Gordon, and Dexter Fowler, and also some guy named Zack Greinke. That gives Excel most of the top FA’s.
Perhaps the biggest news coming from Scott Boras was that Stephen Strasburg had a little surgery which was on a benign growth classified as a lesion. Thanks to MicheleS for the following 2 tweets:
Expected but interesting: Rizzo said '16 Nats will be younger, less experienced but more athletic & speedier. "A little transformation."
— James Wagner (@JamesWagnerWP) November 11, 2015
Rizzo also said nobody has approached him on proposing trades for Stephen Strasburg; however, teams have approached him on Drew Storen and Jonathan Papelbon.
Rizzo had a long commentary on a question asked about the rumors that the Nats could look to Matt Wieters at catcher. That move seems somewhat a low priority with Ramos coming off of a Gold Glove nomination and a #1 defensive rating although Ramos is in his last year before free agency:
“….He’s a guy that it would be difficult to find a better replacement for. He’s a good catcher. He was # 1 in throwing runners out. He was up for a Gold Glove. He was one of the tops in the National League in HRs and RBIs. He had a down year in getting on base, not like he should, and hitting for average, but as far as a guy, as catchers go, he really had some impact in the lineup with power, RBI and catch-throw skills were fine. We like Ramos. He’s a guy that it would be difficult to find a better replacement for.”
Ian Desmond talked about his slump early in the season and said this,
“it was awesome to see, you know, how many people I had in my corner and kind of who my true people were.”
Ian said he has a lot of faith in his agent Doug Rogarski of Sports One who has rep’d Ian since he was 18 years old.
“There’s numerous factors that go into it. There’s a couple, but uh, I mean. Ultimately it’s gonna come down to who the best opportunity to win a World Series with.”
Ultimately? So you will take less money now to have an opportunity to win a World Series? So should we go rewind back to that whole discussion that was about the almighty dollar? Desi said in March of 2014, “At the same time, there have been a lot of people that have come through this game that have sacrificed a lot for us, the players that are coming through now. I don’t want to sign a deal — and this isn’t to say they’ve offered me this — but I don’t want to sign a deal that is so bad that a future shortstop gets screwed because I signed a terrible deal. I’m not going to be that guy, that kink in the chain. I’m going to get a fair deal, or I’m just going to wait.” If the ultimate factor was “gonna come down to who the best opportunity to win a World Series with” you should have signed the extension before Ian with the Washington Nationals but don’t let that get in the way of
“I’m going to get a fair deal, or I’m just going to wait.“ Seemed you said it was something about more money or was that misinterpreted?
You can hear this portion of the Desmond interview in an audio dubbed over video: Ian Desmond Interview Here’s 3 minutes of the 10 minute interview Desi Speaks
Hot also on the rumor mill should be no surprise that the Nats are interested in the full Zobrist. DonH recommended Zobrist as the Nats #1 target http://www.talknats.com/2015/10/30/my-1-fa-target-ben-zobrist/ which makes a lot of sense.
Yesterday it was Jon Heyman who put out his Free Agent predictions and today it was Jim Bowden’s turn but if you don’t have the ESPN Insider subscription you can’t see any of the Nats predictions:
On JimBo’s list is JZim #6 at only $20 million per year for 6 years, Desi #14 at $17 million per year for 5 years, DSpan #24 at $12 million per year for 3 years, Fister #43 at $10 million per year for 2 years.
Who can forget this image from a year ago after the Max Scherzer signing where Scott Boras again was seated at the head table with Mike Rizzo.
Scherzer is here. Also to the podium come Mike Rizzo, Matt Williams and Scott Boras. pic.twitter.com/QFK44aFsNW
— Dan Kolko (@masnKolko) January 21, 2015
A week from today is the Owner’s Meetings in Dallas Texas. Do you think MASN will be on the owner’s agenda?
