Scott Boras: To Be Championship Caliber, You Must 'Take Steps You Have Never Taken Before'
(CBS) It's the job of powerful baseball agent Scott Boras to milk every last million out of owners' pockets for his clients, and there's no one in the game better than he is at it.
So it comes as no surprise that during an interview with 670 The Score's Bruce Levine and Mike Esposito on Inside the Clubhouse on Saturday, Boras was subtly encouraging Cubs owner Tom Ricketts to shell out the big bucks this offseason.
Coming off a 97-win season in which they advanced to the NLCS, the Cubs should have a little more than $100 million committed in payroll once the arbitration process is over. They're expected to have another $25 million to $30 million to spend after that, and they've been open that they'll target top-tier pitching.
Boras doesn't represent any of the top-tier pitchers on the market this season, but he did speak about the Cubs.
"It really depends on the philosophical commitment for the ownership," said Boras, who represents burgeoning Cubs stars Kris Bryant and Addison Russell. "The Cubs are now no longer in rebuilding mode. They're in a championship mode. I think all the fans are aware of that, and the ownership is aware of it. But to be a championship-caliber team, you have to really take steps that you have never taken before."
Boras made a comparison to the Royals, who won the World Series in 2015 after being more aggressive than usual, including trade deadline acquisitions of right-hander Johnny Cueto and infielder Ben Zobrist.
"I know Dayton Moore and Kansas City and their ownership, I know that I last year made like 18 phone calls to Dayton about Kendrys Morales, and he had to clear it with his ownership," Boras said. "And that move (and a handful of others) ... really ramped up their payroll beyond places it had ever been before. All those moves proved to be absolutely important to the success of that team. And then during the trading deadline, they went out and took a further step.
"When your ownership is in a championship mode and you have a core group of players (like the Royals) ... that really create a core for a team -- you could argue the Cubs have all of that as well -- it really depends a lot on the ability of the ownership to give that championship push.
"The baseball people clearly believe their core of position players are certainly a group of men that have the ability to compete with any club."
Listen to the full interview below.
