Super-Agent Scott Boras Wins With Holliday Signing

Matt Holliday’s re-signing with the Cardinals was a victory on all fronts.  The Cardinals got the perfect protection for Albert Pujols and solidified their standing atop the NL Central. 

Holliday also won big time because his deal, seven years and $120 million, makes him this offseason’s only $100 million dollar man. 

Holliday’s agent, Scott Boras, can breathe a sigh of relief now that the deal is done.  Boras makes a living using different teams to drive up the value for his clients.  Last year’s signing of Mark Teixeira was a perfect example of this.  He used Boston and New York to drive Teixeira’s price into the stratosphere and the Yankees came away with the slugger along with a World Series title. 

This offseason was different, though.

Boras had the most high profile free agent and couldn’t lure the big markets in.  This was partially due to Boston’s strategy swap, leaning more towards pitching and defense.  The Yankees, after winning a title, didn’t feel the need to go out and add another high priced free agent to their already potent lineup. 

That left only one big market team for Boras to target.  The Mets had a disastrous 2009 season that was marred by injuries and a new ballpark that wasn’t conducive to home runs.  Holliday looked to be the perfect fit in Flushing because he possesses the average/power combo that the Mets sorely needed.

But the Mets didn’t take the bait.  They instead reached out to Jason Bay at baseball’s winter meetings and an over-hyped standoff ensued, giving Boras time to negotiate with the Cardinals while the Mets waited on Bay’s decision. 

(No, the standoff wasn’t like the one C.C. Sabathia and the Yankees had in the 2008 offseason.  Bay didn’t run to another team and beg for that team to sign him the way Sabathia reportedly did.  Sabathia’s contract also has a player opt-out clause after three years.  Bay’s contract has no such option, only an incentive-triggered fifth year that would put his contract into the $85 million range. Also, Bay admitted that he and the Mets agreed on a contract in principle before Christmas.)

All while this was happening, Boras was working with St. Louis to get Holliday a bigger payday.  The Cardinals offers reportedly ranged from $85 million in the beginning, then moved to $100 million, and finally landed at $120 million. 

Boras, who’s been called many bad things including Satan, ended up getting his client a deal that will pay him an average of just over $17 million annually.  That’s why players hire Boras to be their agent.  Even when the Cardinals had all the leverage in the world, Boras still came out on top. 

No, Holliday won’t make as much as Teixeira, but the difference between their average salaries is only a measly $3 million bucks.

What would have happened if Cardinals GM, John Mozeliak sat on a number, say $80 million over five years, and played the waiting game with Boras?  The Cardinals had all the power in these negotiations and could have made Boras sweat for a few more weeks while trying to pull a few other teams into the Holliday sweepstakes. 

Mozeliak had the ability to drive Holliday’s price into Jason Bay territory ($16.5 million), but didn’t.  He could have knocked Boras down a notch and said “we’re paying him what we want to pay him!” 

But Boras and Mozeliak both knew that Holliday’s production was going to dictate what he was going to get paid.  In today’s market, Holliday is a superstar and superstars like him get contracts in the $100 million-plus range.  In baseball we rarely get to see deals that benefit the player, team, and the agent all at the same time. 

This happened to be one of the rare times that it occurred.