Baltimore Orioles: Under-represented?

Are a pair of former Baltimore Orioles being done justice or not – by Scott Boras?

Former Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis and Wei-Yin Chen are both represented by Super Agent, Scott Boras. This much we already know. But my question is whether or not Boras is doing justice by these two particular clients. And it’s an interesting one.

Davis and Chen are starting to turn into the equivilant to NFL players holding out. That’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, as I recognize that camp hasn’t started yet. However another difference is that these players aren’t signed yet due to reasons driven by their agent. I sincerely do believe that if they had their way, they would have signed (somewhere) by now.

Admittedly I’ve always said that January is the most important month in terms of hot stove time. However with the number of players that signed in various places in November and December, if I were Davis or Chen I might be starting to wonder what in the heck is going on.

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On the flip side Boras is probably trying to sell them on the fact that if they’re of the final free agents on the board he can parlay that into a bigger contract. However keep in mind that the Orioles made what most people in the industry called a very legitimate offer on Davis – seven years, $150 million. Based on what we know, that’s the only offer that’s been made. And again based on what we know at this moment, there have been no offers on Wei-Yin Chen.

So at a certain point it stands to reason that Davis might start wondering why his agent is acting so laissez-faire when it comes to getting him a deal, especially when they turned down a great contract earlier. (From the team for whom Davis supposedly wants to play.) And the same goes for Chen; at some point he might wonder why his agent hasn’t even collected an offer for him at this point. So the onus all comes back on Boras.

I used the term laissez-faire above because Boras is famously patient and with little sense of urgency. In his mind if his client signs a mega-contract with any team on the day before the first workout, he’s done his job. So he’s probably not spooked by what appears to be a tough market for these two clients. However if I were his client, I might be a bit concerned at this point. 

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Additionally, if you’re Davis and Chen you also see two other Boras clients (Wieters and O’Day) who are now back with the Orioles for this year. Granted those are different circumstances (Wieters on a QO and O’Day being a reliever), however it’s obvious that Boras is willing to play with the Orioles to a certain degree. Which tells you also that in these cases he’s just being stingy and trying to squeeze teams.

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At the end of the day both players will sign somewhere. It’s just a matter of where and when. But as I said, if I were them I’d be feeling a bit of heat right now given the market and how it’s shaped up to this point.