Scott Boras, baseball’s most powerful and most quoted agent, has never shied away from critiquing the spending habits of Major League Baseball’s teams — it’s part of his job, after all. It should come as a little surprise, then, that Boras used Corbin Burnes‘ introductory press conference with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday to point out how many clubs have been dormant this winter, all despite the game’s ever-increasing revenue totals.
“You’re seeing so many teams that are actually not spending,” Boras said, according to USA Today. “They’re making more, but they’re not spending. They’re spending far less than they did two, three years ago. There’s a quadrant as many as 10 to 12 teams that are in that position.
“The graduation of being an owner has a different definition that it did 10, 15 years ago, ironically because of the appreciation of the franchise value.”
Obviously Boras has a vested interest in teams spending money — especially at the top of the free-agent market. So far this winter, he’s been able to land nine-figure contracts for three of his clients: Juan Soto, Burnes, and Blake Snell. Those three alone have signed contracts worth more than $1.15 billion combined. Some of the top remaining free agents are also represented by Boras, including third baseman Alex Bregman and first baseman Pete Alonso.
To Boras’ point, CBS Sports observed the following as of late December: “At the time there were six teams that had given out at least $100 million in combined free-agent contracts. Conversely, nine teams had spent fewer than $5 million all winter. Another six teams had handed out fewer than $30 million in contracts — mind you, that’s not just in 2025 dollars; that’s for the contract’s lifetime.”
Although a few of those figures have changed in the weeks since, it’s hard to argue against Boras’ larger contention when roughly half the league has spent as little as possible this offseason. Meanwhile, MLB‘s leaguewide revenues reportedly grew to $11.6 billion last season — a figure that represented year-to-year growth. “We’ve had a good year,” commissioner Rob Manfred said during the World Series. “Our business was strong.”
Of course, some teams do have a more valid excuse than others when it comes to penny-pinching. Several clubs, including the Minnesota Twins, have been dealing with uncertain local broadcast situations. That, in turn, has impacted their revenue projections and explains their unwillingness to spend.
Still, whatever the cause, Boras is right about the effect.
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