MINNEAPOLIS — Now that they have taken their relationship with super agent Scott Boras to another level, one thing is certain:
The Twins are on a path to the World Series.
Two examples:
When Jim Crane purchased the Astros in 2011, he flew to Boras' office in Newport Beach, Calif., with a question: How do I build a championship team? Six years later, Houston won the championship.
The 2019 Nationals were a World Series winner with Boras clients Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Juan Soto and Max Scherzer as the foundation. Two other Boras clients, Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth, were there in previous years, helping Washington set the stage for glory.
So letting Boras into your organization can be a good thing if you are serious about winning.
For the Twins, it meant winning a prolonged battle to sign shortstop Carlos Correa. Royce Lewis, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, is a Boras client, as is catcher Ryan Jeffers. Injured right-hander Chris Paddack, who is with Boras, was signed to a contract extension while he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Outfielder Joey Gallo is represented by Boras, and, after being drafted by the Twins, Alex Kirilloff switched to Boras.
Nick Gordon, Kenta Maeda, Austin Martin and Jose De Leon — all Boras guys.
Boras is the gold standard among agents. If you're a prep or college stud, he's going to win over your mother. If you are a top free agent, he gets a direct audience with team owners. According to Forbes, Boras has 106 clients on contracts earning $3.8 billion. Five of the 18 largest contracts belong to Boras clients, totaling $1.47 billion.
The Twins franchise was valued by Forbes last year at $1.39 billion.
"One thing you know when you see Scott Boras' name on your phone is to strap in, have some snacks, make sure you have a banana and you're hydrated," Twins general manager Thad Levine said, "because the conversation is going to be longer than you expected. It is going to be more thorough. You are going to cover more topics than you anticipated."
This has been flyover country for top Boras clients heading to one of the coasts to sign life-changing deals, but times are changing.
"People always ask me what it's like to negotiate with Scott Boras, and I say that he's always looking for solutions for his players and creative solutions, so it's a great match in my mind," Twins President of Basketball Operations Derek Falvey said. "It's not emotional. It's not what you see on TV or what you think is in a movie. It's more about, 'How do we figure out a solution to see if we can make this thing work?' "
The Twins were the solution a year ago when the market didn't materialize for Correa, and the sides agreed to a three-year, $105.3 million contract, with opt outs, in spring training. And the Twins were the solution this offseason when deals with the Giants and Mets fell apart over concern about Correa's surgically repaired right leg — surgery that happened in 2014.
The Twins kept checking in with Boras during Correa's free agency.
"Derek called, called, called," Boras said. "I finally call him back and say, 'Derek I think we have something to talk about.' "
Boras said the move should send a signal to other teams that the Twins are serious players.
"Significantly," Boras said. "I used to say this about Toronto. Toronto is a top-10 franchise. A great city [that has] all these things going. When you land at [MSP Airport] it's not like landing in a lot of small market airports. I had to walk a mile to get to [baggage]."
Obviously, Boras had landed at Terminal 1, Gate C.
"It's a metropolis," he continued. "It's growing, it has double the size of a lot of major league cities."
Boras' history with the Twins got off to a bad start. It's up to you to decide for whom.
After a 371-game minor league career hampered because of knee injuries ended in 1977, Boras turned to representing players and fought some hard battles.
The Twins took pitcher Tim Belcher with the first overall pick in 1983. George Brophy was the Twins' farm director at the time and didn't like negotiating. Brophy was heard screaming at Boras over the phone, colorfully comparing his playing days to his talent as an agent.
After he slammed the phone down, a young employee went over to Jim Rantz, Brophy's assistant and future farm director, and asked, 'Mr. Rantz, is Mr. Brophy all right?'
"Oh he's fine," Rantz said. "He was just talking to his wife."
Brophy offered Belcher $100,000. Boras then took advantage of a rule in which players drafted from NAIA schools — Belcher attended Mount Vernon Nazarene University — could be eligible for the January supplemental draft, which existed from 1966 to 1986. Belcher turned down the Twins, was selected by the Yankees in the next supplemental draft, and signed for $150,000.
Boras' quest was to improve bonuses for draft picks, arguing that they would be paid much more if they were declared free agents out of high school and college. It's why he had J.D. Drew sign with the independent league Saints in 1997 instead of accepting $2.6 million from the Phillies. A year later, Drew got $7 million from the Cardinals.
The Twins and Boras battled during arbitration. In 2006 Boras client Kyle Lohse beat the Twins in arbitration for the second consecutive year — the first time in 15 years a player won back-to-back hearings.
I used to hear "He's a Boras guy" often when asking Twins officials about free agents. Translation: Pass.
Former general manager Terry Ryan joked that he didn't need to speak to Boras about his players until late in the offseason when he was looking for lower tier players to fill out his training camp roster.
"I never had a problem with Scott Boras," Ryan said. "We didn't deal with the big boys, but we drafted a few of his players. Eventually we would have a conversation [during free agency]. He would call me or I would reach out to him."
Ryan remembered drafting Boras client Matthew LeCroy in 1997. The Twins also signed Kenny Rogers in 2003 during spring training after Eric Milton was lost for most of the season due to knee surgery. And the Twins signed Kendrys Morales in June of 2014 after Boras had Morales sit out long enough to not have draft pick compensation tied to him the following offseason.
"Back in the day," Ryan said with a chuckle, "our payroll was a little less than it is nowadays."
Boras has continued to push for the best for his clients. The best total value. The best average annual value. His latest kick is length of contract. Since March of 2019, Bryce Harper, Gerrit Cole, Corey Seager and Xander Bogaerts have signed for at least nine years.
Now Boras is encountering a Twins front office that has built out its baseball department under Falvey and Levine. Boras remembers Falvey from his days with Cleveland and Levine from his time with the Rockies and Rangers.
"How dare you insinuate that I have been doing this for that long," joked Levine, who was with the Rockies from 1999-2004 before joining the Rangers. "When moving to Texas, almost immediately we were doing business with Scott. That is where I forged a more substantive and meaningful relationship with him."
The Twins once avoided drafting too many players represented by Boras. Now it's no longer a concern. That, potentially, is a path to higher quality free agents. Constant contact with Boras put them in line to sign Correa a year ago, and their willingness to be a soft landing spot for him this offseason led to his return.
But locking up Byron Buxton and retaining Correa won't be enough to get the Twins where they want to go. They will have to keep adding quality players at the trade deadline and the following free-agent cycle. And that means more conversations with Boras.
Levine said he hopes the Correa move gives Twins fans "the re-energized hope that our owners are supportive of us pursuing the best of the best, not just the best we can afford."
Once the Twins hold the news conference introducing the acquisition of that elusive ace pitcher, then fans will likely believe it. But first things first. The lines to agents like Boras are more open than ever.
