This year, the free agent market was slow. And when I say “was” in the past, I mean “is” in the present… since nothing is moving.
Shohei Ohtani was thought to be blocking the market. Then, it was thought that Yoshinobu Yamamoto was blocking him. Then, we said to ourselves that after the holidays, it would be different.
But ultimately, we realize that Scott Boras is the one blocking everyone. It's not a surprise, in the end.
Currently, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Rhys Hoskins and JD Martinez are still without contracts. They are all Boras customers.
Get ready right away: next year, it will be the same. Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Corbin Burnes, Pete Alonso and a certain Juan Soto will be free.
And these are all his customers.
I say that they will be free, but in fact, it is possible to sign a long-term contract before to change the situation. However, this is not the custom of the agent's house.
The latter prefers to establish the value of its customers in the autonomy market.
There is, however, one potential exception: Jose Altuve. He's the heart and soul of the Astros and if he wants to sign early, he's going to do it. I would be really, really surprised to see him be a free agent.
That said, GM Dana Brown confirmed that Boras has not yet started talking with the Astros regarding a new contract.
Note that rumors have it that Bregman is in his final stages with the Astros. He is expected to play elsewhere in 2025. So I'm not surprised by the lack of discussions.
But Altuve? I don't see the Astros escaping him.
We'll see in time, but in my opinion, during training camp, we should see the first rumors of discussions between Boras and Brown.
Because right now Boras is too busy controlling the autonomy market.
