Notes From Sin City: On Scott Boras' Tail

Our MLB editor files dispatches from the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas in Notes From Sin City.

There aren't many players here at the Bellagio, and the team officials tend to keep a very low profile unless they have a scheduled media briefing or an official announcement to make. That leaves superagent Scott Boras as unquestionably the biggest rock star here at the Winter Meetings.

Boras finally deigned to speak with the media this afternoon after spending the first two days in relative hiding, and, well, what an experience.

To set the scene a little, the Bellagio is a very labyrinthine building. It's designed that way for the same reason that a casino doesn't have clocks -- to disorient potential gamblers. ('Man, I'm lost, might as well sit down at the blackjack table.' ) There are two main areas of activity in the building: the media room, an expansive ballroom with a podium and rows and rows of chairs and then tables behind that, and the bank of elevators, a one- or two-minute walk from the media room.

The elevator bank area is a somewhat narrow corridor more than anything else. There are throngs of reporters and baseball folks assembled, but there are also autograph seekers, peeping toms and a steady stream of hotel guests, freshly checked in and merely trying to make their way to their room with luggage intact.

It's hectic enough as is, so you can guess what happened when Boras emerged from the elevator banks -- all hell broke loose. A pack of reporters five-deep crowded around him to get any scrap they could about the numerous clients he is shopping to teams here in Las Vegas, everyone from Mark Teixeira to Derek Lowe to Felipe Lopez.

The employees of the Bellagio didn't like that too much. As anyone who has ever tried to send a text message at a blackjack table can attest, casinos aren't really fond of recording devices and cameras. The employees barked at the cameramen trying to get videotape of Boras' comments, then at all the reporters crowding around him, including yours truly, for creating a fire hazard.

Finally, after Boras' handlers were assured that he wouldn't be trampled if he attempted to move to the media room -- a dubious guarantee, by the way -- the agent acquiesced. What followed was, by far, the most odd and surreal part of an altogether surreal couple of days here at the Bellagio.

Boras, along with a pack of at least 30 or 40 media members, took the long walk from the elevator banks to the media room in some sort of bastardized cross between a perp walk and a paparazzi photo op. When Boras finally got inside the press area, someone cracked that they thought Elvis had gone by and he mounted the camera area,above the aforementioned horde as if some sort of king or prophet, and fielded questions on a variety of topics and players.

Boras is, as you'd imagine, a smooth guy -- very well composed, deliberate when he talks and not fazed even remotely by the press. His most common response to questions was to tell reporters to "take it up with" team X but he did throw a few interesting tidbits out there. Here are some of the highlights:

- On Teixeira's ties to the Baltimore-Washington area: "Certainly, part of Mark's decision is complex because you know he's got regional ties and family considerations."

- On how many offers Teix has received: "Numerous."

- On what factors Teixeira is considering as he weighs offers: "Commitment by the owners long-term to the franchise being successful,where they play, the city they're in ... and of course the economics."

- On Jason Varitek: "Boston has let us know they want him back, and we're talking about it, but we also have to go out and look at other situations."

- On how serious Boston's contract offer is: "Look, when a major league team approaches you about a player, I guess it's serious."

- On the CC Sabathia signing and the state of the pitching market: "The market for starting pitching is a little bit more defined now. Certainly the clubs that may have been involved in CC and the clubs that were always interested in [the other free-agent starters]."

- On how Teixeira feels about the state of the Nationals, one of his reported suitors: "I don't think most major league players are excited about anyone losing 100 games, but he may be excited about the fact the team has a No. 1 draft pick."

- On whether teams will turn to Manny Ramirez once Teixeira signs: "Well, I think you're talking about clubs that need a bat, I think they're trying to fulfill it in a number of ways, so obviously with those franchise-type players, you're looking at a number of clubs where one of the players may be the answer."

- On the Yankees' desirability to other free agents with CC Sabathia in the fold: "I think its give the player a roadmap to where the Yankees are going. I mean, if I'm a baseball player, having a pitcher like CC Sabathia is something to be happy about."

- On baseball's possible economic slowdown: "The interesting thing about our world of baseball, though, is that we have an unusual foundation only because we're contractually subsidized by a huge television contract. ... Clubs that don't perform well get $65 million every year -- $40 million from revenue sharing and $25 million from Central Baseball. Usually when a person doesn't perform, they can't go and pay down their mortgage, but in our business you can end up in last place for a lot of seasons and take the money you get and pay down your debt. ... We're a very different industry. Certainly we think there maybe an impact from the economy, but if there is one, then we have to look at the historical aspects of it."

- On Varitek getting a contract of higher value than a potential arbitration award: "To whether or not he'd do better than in arbitration, I could make a pretty good case for him. ... [Catcher] is a very experience-based position. It's the one position in baseball where there's so few candidates for positions, and the subjective analysis is so great for that position, that a lot of what is so important is left of the page. Representing a catcher is like buying submarines, you have peer under the surface of the water."

- On how he juggles so many different free-agent offers: "We have a great staff. ... We have multiple meetings and the good news is you kind of get conditioned to staying up late."