The MLB lockout is still in effect. The league and the players’ association appear to be miles apart on a number of crucial issues. Spring training may be delayed or cancelled. Regular season games might be postponed. The two sides have some time, but not that much time.
There’s plenty of cooks in the CBA negotiation kitchen. ESPN’s Buster Olney had an interesting nugget on who he believes is the second most influential individual in the negotiations. Spoiler alert, it’s not Rob Manfred.
When asked to rank the power of the entities involved in the negotiations, Olney had this to say:
“Number two would be agent Scott Boras who I think has a lot of influence as to what’s going on here. Most of the executive committee, for the players association, is made up of Scott Boras clients. He is perceived by a lot of other folks in the union, on the Major League Baseball side, to have a lot of influence as to what’s going on.”
Olney also highlighted that five of the eight members of the executive players’ committee are represented by Scott Boras: Max Scherzer, Zack Britton, Gerrit Cole, Marcus Semien, and James Paxton.
Those players would undoubtedly solicit advice on how to handle the owners during bargaining sessions from the baseball super-agent Scott Boras.
MLB and the MLBPA still have a laundry list of items they’ll need to agree on to get complete a new CBA. Compensation for younger players, the competitive tax threshold, revenue sharing are all major sticking points and that’s just the Cliff notes.
It’s only natural that Boras, the most powerful agent in baseball, is the man behind the curtain.
