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3 Scott Boras clients Dodgers can’t pursue next winter
Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, and Jordan Montgomery — becoming known as the Boras Four, after shared agent Scott Boras — have yet to sign major-league deals for the 2024 season. They were four of the biggest free agents on the market entering the offseason and they remain available, leaving fans, teams, and commentators to wonder what gives.
It probably (definitely) has to do with Boras, arguably the most high-powered sports agent currently working. His active client list is long and packed with stars, including but not limited to Pete Alonso, José Altuve, Zac Gallen, Carlos Correa, and Carlos Rodón, most of whom have been able to net remarkable deals in free agency. He was also Alex Rodriguez's agent when he signed his then-record-breaking $252 million deal with the Rangers in 2000.
Boras is a tough negotiator and an arm-twister who frequently bends teams to his and his clients' wills. However, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic pointed out in a recent piece, the Braves and Dodgers like to do things their own way (subscription required).
3 Scott Boras clients Dodgers can’t pursue next winter
The Dodgers haven't expressed interest in any member of the Boras Four (Boras Five, if you include JD Martinez) this offseason, and that may be intentional. They have no need for even more big free agents, but when the next offseason rolls around, there will be a whole host of them represented by Boras on the market who the Dodgers might be better off letting go elsewhere.
Juan Soto
Soto will only spend a year with the Yankees before he heads into free agency and easily becomes the hottest commodity on the market. An early contract prediction from The Athletic already put him somewhere around 14 years and $540 million with whichever team he signs with next. The Yankees could extend him sometime this season to avoid having to fight for him in free agency, but extensions aren't really part of the Boras playbook. Soto is more likely to become a free agent and let multiple teams, including the Yankees, fall all over themselves to woo him.
The Dodgers could be among them; Jason Heyward and Teoscar Hernández's contracts will both be up, leaving two potential spots in the corners of the outfield that Soto could fill. There would also be no greater joy than getting a beloved former Padre in Dodger blue. However, Soto will be incredibly expensive, and even despite the endless cash the Dodgers seemed to dole out this year, it seems unlikely that they'll be able to accommodate two players they've pledged $500+ million to, even with the benefit of Shohei Ohtani's deferrals.
They could try to go the deferral route with Soto, too; Boras isn't necessarily opposed to negotiating for deferred payments with his clients, given the fact that Stephen Strasburg will keep getting paid by the Nationals until 2030. However, it seems likely that the Dodgers won't be in on Soto at all. They'll still owe Mookie Betts $220 million after the 2024 season, Freddie Freeman $81 million, and will likely have their hands full with Walker Buehler, either trying to extend him or woo him back to LA for a good deal of money.
Corbin Burnes
The Dodgers' white whale this offseason might be gone for good. Burnes, another Boras client, went to Baltimore in an Orioles-Brewers swap to kick off February, giving them a leg up to retain him when he hits free agency after the season. He could be another extension candidate, but, again, Boras clients don't tend to do extensions. Still, the Orioles have a new ownership group that is already more willing to spend money than the Angelos family ever was, so if Burnes can keep being as dominant in Baltimore as he was in Milwaukee, they'll probably be willing to throw buckets of it at him to keep him with the team in free agency.
Rosenthal notes that the Dodgers, unlike the Braves, have been willing to sign Boras clients in free agency instead of just drafting or trading for them — James Paxton most recently, for example — but have also been burned by the most prominent ones in the past. Gerrit Cole and Bryce Harper both received offers from the Dodgers in free agency before going elsewhere, and Corey Seager turned down an offer to come back and chose Texas instead. It sounds like the Dodgers just aren't willing to pay Boras prices for the biggest stars, especially on long-term deals.
By the time the 2025 season comes around, the Dodgers might not even need or want Burnes anymore. Walker Buehler will be back, Tony Gonsolin and/or Dustin May might be back, and Ohtani will be able to pitch. Still, it was a little sad to see Burnes get tossed to Baltimore for so little in return, when the Dodgers had their eyes on him for so long.
Alex Bregman
Okay, we all know that there's no way the Dodgers would ever sign a member of the 2017 Houston Astros, Boras client or not, but let's just indulge in a thought experiment for a second. The 2025 free agent class will once again be heavy on pitching and light on everything else. There are some good first and second basemen in the mix, including Pete Alonso and Gleyber Torres, but the Dodgers have Freeman and Betts for many years to come. If Lux does a good enough job this year after an ACL surgery, they should be fine at shortstop, but if not, Willy Adames is a free agent (and not a Boras client) next year. And then we come around to Max Muncy at third.
Muncy is a point of pride for the Dodgers, who scooped him on waivers from the A's and turned him around into someone who can regularly hit 30+ home runs a season. However, his defense leaves a lot to be desired, he doesn't hit for average, and he's already 33. Bregman, though it's painful to admit, isn't only younger but is the better all-around player. He's been overshadowed a bit in recent years by Yordan Álvarez and José Altuve, but he can still be a massive threat in the Astros' lineup.
Bregman will be one of the best options on the free agent market, but his Astros tenure and Boras connection work in tandem to make it almost impossible that the Dodgers go after him. If the Astros can convince Boras to let them extend Bregman, free agency might not even be in the cards for him at all.
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