Scott Boras Advised MLB Players Not to 'Bail Out' Owners in Leaked Email

Baseball agent Scott Boras has advised his players not to agree to the proposed salary cuts from MLB owners. 

Ronald Blum of the Associated Press obtained an email Boras sent to his 71 major league clients in which he told them to stand firm against the owners.

"Remember, games cannot be played without you," the agent wrote. "Players should not agree to further cuts to bail out the owners.

"Let owners take some of their record revenues and profits from the past several years and pay you the prorated salaries you agreed to accept or let them borrow against the asset values they created from the use of those profits players generated."

Players had already agreed to prorated salaries when the season was shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a proposed plan would result in further reductions, as Jeff Passan of ESPN noted:

Boras, who earns commission from the player's salaries, would presumably also lose money under the proposal.

With the salary cuts affecting the highest-paid players the most, the changes could be especially damaging to a person considered one of the most prominent agents in the sport.

Boras helped his clients earn over $1 billion this offseason alone, including high-priced contracts for Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is also a client of his, and he took to social media to Wednesday to explain his viewpoint:

Scherzer is projected to make $5.5 million of his original $35.9 million salary, per CBS Sports.

Though owners are attempting to recover money that would be lost due to a lack of gate revenue if games are played without fans, Boras doesn't want his players to accept the drastic cuts.