Aaron Sanchez Hiring Scott Boras As His Agent Is Bad News For The Blue Jays
As a baseball fan, his name makes your skin crawl. The second that one of the top stars on your favorite team hires Scott Boras as their agent, you know that player is as good as gone once they hit free agency.
That’s just the way it is. Are there exceptions to the rule? Sure. Back in 2011, Boras client Jered Weaver signed a 5-year, $85 million extension before he could reach free agency. Most recently, Boras client Stephen Strasburg signed a 7-year, $175 million extension with the Nationals this past May, forgoing an opportunity to headline the free agent class this winter in a weak starting pitching market. So, it happens, but it’s very rare.
Simply put, if you hire Boras, you’re looking to get PAID. And if you’re going to free agency, you’re going to the top bidder 99 times out of 100. You’re not taking any hometown discounts. If you’re a GM that’s lucky enough to get your player to agree to an extension with Boras in their ear, then you’re paying top market value for that player. You don’t enlist Boras’ services to take a team-friendly deal.
That brings us to Aaron Sanchez of the Toronto Blue Jays, who just became Boras’ newest client.
Side note: Blue Jays fans aren’t doing themselves any favors in their crusade to prove that they’re not bandwagon fans.
Anyway, being that Sanchez won’t hit free agency until 2021, and has yet to reach arbitration, I’d imagine that Sanchez sought Boras’ help for those three arbitration years, beginning in 2018. The Blue Jays are ruthless when it comes to arbitration. They don’t give no fucks. For those who are unfamiliar with the process, it’s pretty awkward, and smart teams do what they can to avoid that process.
It goes year-by-year, and the player pleads their case for what they think their salary should be for the upcoming season, and the team counters with what they think the player is worth (it’s always lower than the player’s figure). After the two figures are submitted, a neutral panel then determines which figure the player will make. There’s no meeting in the middle once it’s handled by the arbitration panel. You can, however, avoid arbitration by both sides submitting a figure and meeting in the middle or somewhere close. But once you go to arbitration, it’s out of the player and team’s hands.
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The Blue Jays went to arbitration with Josh friggin’ Donaldson the year after he won the MVP award. It’s just not smart to have a player of that caliber, who seemingly loves it in Toronto, and then follow that season up with putting together a case to prove why they’re worth less money than they think they’re worth. If and when Sanchez and the Blue Jays fail to avoid arbitration, Sanchez will have Boras on his side to prove why his figure should be selected by the arbitration panel, and not Toronto’s figure.
While hiring Boras will certainly be a big plus for Sanchez as he navigates the choppy waters of arbitration, that’ll just be a warmup for when he becomes a free agent. If Sanchez can produce at a level similar to his 2016 campaign, he’s going to make a shitload of money. Not only because of his production level, but also because he’ll hit free agency prior to his age-28 season. That’s roughly a couple of years younger than when most players hit free agency for the first time.
In 2016, Sanchez went 15-2 with the lowest ERA in the American League (3.00), and allowed the fewest home runs per nine innings (0.7). A mid-season demotion to Triple-A to limit his innings probably cost him the Cy Young award, as he fell just short of 200 innings (192). It’ll be interesting to see what Sanchez can do over a full season, if the Blue Jays actually let him off his leash. It’ll also be interesting to see what his price tag will become if he keeps this up through 2020, especially with Boras as his agent.