Super-agent Scott Boras is known for swinging for the fences and overdelivering for his clients; however, the high-powered negotiator has some swing and miss to his game, and when he misses his misses hard. The Boston Red Sox benefited from that last offseason as Alex Bregman landed in their laps, and now the latest failure with another Boras client could open the door again.
Boras represents Japanese phenom Tatsuya Imai, whose high-90s fastball and flush repertoire tantalized scouts and led to some gawdy contract projections. MLB Trade Rumors projected Imai to receive a six-year, $150 million deal, with most other pundits making predictions around the same mark.
Instead, with the 27-year-old hurler's posting window coming to a close, Boras delivered an opt-out-laden three-year, $54 million deal, just a third of what most experts believed he'd receive.
Boras managed to land a lucrative deal for Pete Alonso with the Baltimore Orioles, though at five years and $155 million, which felt short of Alonso's dreams of a seven-plus-year deal from the beginning of the offseason.
Scott Boras failing to deliver a lucrative long-term deal for Tatsuya Imai could help the Red Sox in their Alex Bregman pursuit
The Alonso deal is a rare compromise on Boras' record, opposed to the home runs and strikeouts he's known for. That doesn't seem to be a likely case for Bregman. While he's coming off a stronger season than he was last winter, he still presents the same red flags that nerfed his market then, and is now entering his age-32 season.
Boston seems to have no appetite for the type of long-term deals that Bregman desires, but according to Buster Olney, it has an offer out to the star third baseman. Olney seems surprisingly confident that Bregman will return to the Red Sox despite the knowledge that the club doesn't want to be tied down long-term.
Bregman seems to have lots of suitors, but it's questionable how real they all are. The Arizona Diamondbacks are reportedly sniffing around, but if they don't deal Ketel Marte, they likely can't afford Bregman. The Detroit Tigers are thought to only get in the mix if the bottom falls out, this time opting not to go big for the former Houston Astro. The Toronto Blue Jays have apparently also kicked the tires, but they've also been connected to numerous other high-profile names like Kyle Tucker and their own free agent, Bo Bichette.
Going back to Imai, several clubs were linked to him as well, but he ultimately landed with the Astros, who weren't previously connected to him. His settling for much less than expected proves that just because these teams get connected to these players, the interest doesn't always run super hot.
With that comes deflation rather than inflation, so while there's been a lot of rumblings regarding Bregman, none of that guarantees that his market will heat up. If anything, recent events might show that Boras has been overplaying his hand yet again, and the Red Sox might end up benefiting from that.