Life ain't easy for Scott Boras these days: peddling juicers to skeptical MLB GMs

To paraphrase Johnny Cash, 'life ain't easy for a boy named Scott (Boras)'.

The athletes super-agent finds life changed over the years.  Usually Boras hosts A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) and the wife for a short retreat, and a long strategy session on career and finances.  This year offers new discussions...like the financial impact of juicing ballplayers.

Boras discovered that teams tend to be hesitant when it comes time to sign players accused of steroid and PED use.  Fans don't always like drug-cheats.  Journalists write these guys up alot.  Visiting ballparks become less friendly. The New York Daily News talks about this.

First, Boras' power:

Ever since Boras brought a 26-year-old Chicago Cub named Greg Maddux to Atlanta as a free agent in 1992, he has been called the "most hated" and the "most dangerous" and sometimes even "the most powerful" man in baseball, the man who will sacrifice the truth and his own clients' best interests in order to get record contracts. He has been called hypnotic and manipulative, able to maneuver owners into signing deals they had no business signing.

Boras stable of star studs houses a couple of juicers; the GMs are starting to get skittish about signing known 'roiders.

But after two Boras clients, St. Louis' Rick Ankiel and the Mets' Scott Schoeneweis, showed up on the client list of Signature Pharmacy as having received human growth hormone, and, in Schoeneweis' case, steroids, several executives say they will look twice at a Boras client, no matter who it is.

"Absolutely," one GM says. "He talks about how involved he is with their lives - how could he not have known?"

Boras says he will not discuss Ankiel or Schoeneweis, other than to repeat his argument that Schoeneweis, who had testicular cancer in 1993, had a medical need to take whatever he did in 2003 and 2004, the years he received drugs from Signature.

MLB disagrees, and officials note that Schoeneweis could have sought an exemption from the drug policy if he had a legitimate medical need.

When asked about Jose Canseco's accusation that Ivan Rodriguez used steroids, Boras says, "I didn't represent Pudge at that time." And when asked about his professed attention to detail in light of the Ankiel and Schoeneweis revelations, Boras says, "Are there situations, obviously, with players where you don't have full knowledge of what's going on? Of course there are. The fact is, as good as the system is, it's not perfect. We go about the business of educating our players as best we can."

Interesting how cheating sometimes affects players and clubs.  Although the San Francisco Giants feasted off Barry Bonds late life steroid-fueled home run bonanza, look how that story turned out:  this year the Giants composed a miserable season, stuck with the aging, highly paid, and temperamental star.

Comments

[Jose]

Well I tend to agree with Allen Berra on the A-Rod / Canseco thing, but even if the A-Rod stuff is true, it still doesn't change my perception of Boras. The guy's dirty, and ultimately, he takes up a lot of the dirty pie MLB's been serving their fans. Yes, the game's exciting and people are watching again, especially after that disastrous strike. But I also think it's telling that we're spending an exponential amount of money on tickets just to watch our favorite teams. The contracts are absolutely absurd, and Boras was able to take advantage of money-hungry owners and GMs who saw potential to make these kids into big-time stars.

[duh]

wow, this is ridiculously irresponsible.

way to totally smear someone based on zero evidence.

Canseco never explicitly said A-Rod took steroids.

i am no A-Rod fan, but to drag A-Rod's name through the mud based on a very dubious connection (Boras and Jose Canseco) is inexcusable. A-Rod was hitting bombs when he was a skinny 21 year old and he is still hitting bombs now while being tested.

[GRG]

We considered the comments, then removed the reference to A-Rod. Probably isn't fair to anyone considering the Canseco statements were very very vague.

thanks

[San Francisco Giants]

A-Rod gets a bad rap most of the time. He's a great ball player, has some trouble speaking with the media some times, but still plays his heart out. There are a lot of similarities between A-Rod and Bonds. That's partly why Barry has been so respectful of him lately.