In addition, Boras also represents starting catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Danny Espinosa could start at second, and Rick Ankiel may win the center field competition, meaning Boras could have four clients in Washington’s everyday lineup.
The Nationals were criticized throughout baseball for overpaying for Werth, and the team formerly was opposed to no-trade clauses. But Werth fit nicely into Rizzo’s defensive-minded plan, and it’s a good thing the ownership group headed by the Lerner family supports the general manager’s vision.
That’s another thing about Boras: He’s one of professional sport’s all-time best pitchmen in meetings with owners.
No matter how much Rizzo believed in Werth, the move doesn’t happen unless the Lerners believed similarly. Obviously, Rizzo had an ally in Boras.
Team executives usually bristle at the suggestion agents play a part in their decisions. They cite scouting reports, analysis and their professional instincts in what they do — not the input of agents.
Owners want to know about the mental makeup of the people seeking their money. Boras provides personal insight into players raw data alone can’t reveal.
Rizzo is an inexperienced general manager, and the Nationals have struggled under the Lerners. It would appear the potential exists for Boras, as good as it gets in his field, to advance his agenda at the expense of the Nationals.
With so many of his clients on the team, however, Boras and the Nationals, to a certain degree, are in this together. Everyone wins if Boras’s clients succeed individually while helping the Nationals become a contender.
If Rizzo’s plan fails, then they’ll be linked in that, too. Either way, Boras definitely is in the mix with the Nationals.
“We look at ourselves as being in partnership with all the teams,” Boras said.
Albeit some a lot more than others.
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