Scott Boras enjoys being in middle of Yankees-Mets rivalry, although this time name of game is money
New York Yankees' Juan Soto talks with agent Scott Boras before Game 1 of the baseball World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. Credit: AP/Julio Cortez
SAN ANTONIO — For Scott Boras, there’s only one thing better than a New York baseball team, flush with cash, drooling over your nine-figure client.
And that’s having both of them doing so.
It’s been a while since Boras was in this enviable position. So I asked him Wednesday morning if he could remember the last time the Yankees went toe-to-toe with the Mets for the top free agent in his stable, as Juan Soto is now. Another “generational talent,” if you will.
Boras didn’t hesitate.
“Obviously with A-Rod, way back when,” he said.
That was nearly a quarter century ago, with George Steinbrenner still at the height of his powers and the Yankees — unbeknownst to them — coming to the end of their dynastic run after beating the Mets in the 2000 World Series for a fourth title in five years.
Enter Alex Rodriguez, the four-time All-Star and perennial MVP candidate who was hitting free agency after his age 25 season — sound familiar? — with the goal of shattering the record for baseball’s highest-paid player.
The Yankees were obviously interested because The Boss habitually coveted every marquee name for his Bronx collection, and had the money to facilitate that obsession. As for the Mets, they also were big-game hunters during that period, as this was long before the Wilpons ran aground financially.
Ironically, neither wound up with A-Rod, who wound up signing a 10-year, $252 million deal with the Rangers that set the new benchmark for the biggest contract in pro sports, almost doubling Kevin Garnett’s six-year, $126 million pact with the NBA’s Timberwolves. Two days earlier, Mike Hampton briefly held the MLB record, courtesy of his eight-year, $121-million contract with the Rockies.
How shocking was the Rangers’ mega-deal with A-Rod? It was $2 million more than Texas owner Tom Hicks paid for the franchise and its ballpark only three years earlier.
In other words, this isn’t Boras’ first rodeo. And no agent’s been better at manipulating teams into paying through the nose for top-shelf talent. Back in 2000, Boras had roughly 10 teams sniffing around for A-Rod, and as GM Brian Cashman reiterated this week, it only takes one owner to boldly take the bidding into a stratosphere where the others won’t follow.
This time, with Soto — or the “Magic Juan” as he labeled him Wednesday — Boras doesn’t need 10 suitors. Or even half that. He really only needs two: the Yankees and Mets, two franchises that warily eye each other’s moves across the RFK Bridge, akin to two Cold War powers peering over the Berlin Wall.
We haven’t seen this in decades. Although the Yankees have always had a Steinbrenner with the big checkbook — now Hal instead of his dad — the Mets didn’t come back into money until the hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen purchased the team in November of 2019. Since then, Steinbrenner and Cohen had steered clear of each other’s shopping sprees, with their offseason goals never overlapping (the Mets chose not to interfere in the Yankees’ anxious efforts to lock up homegrown star Aaron Judge).
But that detente between the two New York superpowers is now over, brought to an end by Soto’s free agency, the availability of Pete Alonso, and perhaps even the handful of front-line pitchers Boras has in his storefront window. Cashman conceded this week that the Yankees are all-in to retain Soto — depending where the price goes of course — and while Mets president of baseball ops David Stearns has played coy on the subject, rest assured Cohen has conveyed those same intentions to Boras.
“I think the Mets are trying to get to their goal, which is winning the world championship,” Boras said. “And I think they’ve been very clear about pursuing that aggressively in the market.”
It’s not just Soto, either. The Mets have to replace three starters lost to free agency, and Boras has Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell and their former No. 1, Sean Manaea, who probably pitched his way to a $100 million contract this winter. There’s going to be plenty of competition for those arms, but what is shaping up to be the other crosstown battle, in addition to Soto, is likely to involve Alonso.
Alonso is basically the Mets’ Judge — not on the same MVP level, but a homegrown slugger beloved by the fan base. The Yankees are looking to fill the first-base position, and if they don’t get Soto, Alonso is a great fallback option to help fill the home-run void as part of an offseason retooling, at a significantly lower cost. When Cashman was asked specifically about Alonso, he said he’s checked in with Boras about all of his players, and the Mets are keeping tabs on him as well.
“Pete’s been a great Met,” Stearns said. “We’d love to have him back.”
Boras, as you might expect, was a bit more effusive in describing Alonso’s free-agent value over the coming weeks.
“We hear a lot about the bear market for power-hitting first basemen,” Boras said. “For Pete’s sake, it’s the polar opposite.”
Right now, Boras is more puppet-master than agent, pulling the strings on two New York teams with an insatiable appetite for an October return — and taking care of this year’s unfinished business. Whether it’s Soto, Alonso or numerous other A-listers from his client sheet, this winter is going to give us the Subway Series clash we didn’t get last month, only with Steinbrenner and Cohen taking center stage.
“That’s just the nature of the beast,” Cashman said of the big-market showdown.
And Boras, as usual, is the one dangling the steak overhead.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.