Heyman and Boras: A Marriage of Convenience

Rich Lederer over at The Baseball Analysts has a very detailed analysis posted about the credibility of SI.com and MLB Network contributor John Heyman. The most compelling point that he makes is in regard to Heyman’s relationship with Scott Boras:

It is plainly obvious that Heyman, known among fellow writers as scottboras.com, is getting fed such stories by Scott himself, which is fine and dandy except there is more going on here than meets the eye.

You see, Boras throws Heyman a bone on a Tek or Tex signing but also uses him to spread rumors about the level of interest and terms in ongoing free agent negotiations to create a false sense of demand. Teams that fall for this trick wind up competing against themselves, which is exactly what Boras desires.

While Boras is no fool, Heyman is a tool for the Scott Boras Corporation. Boras knows how to game the system to get the best deals for his clients and will gladly use Heyman as long as the latter plays along or until the market realizes what is going on. As it stands now, it’s almost as if Heyman, who was seen exiting Boras’ office after midnight during the Teixeira negotiations, is on the SBC payroll.

Most knowledgeable fans knew this already, but Lederer brings some evidence of Heyman’s subjugation, focusing on the events surrounding Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira over the last few months. Ultimately, it means that anything Heyman writes must be taken with an enormous grain of salt. Only trust Mr. Heyman when he reports a Boras client signing, as those reports are worth their weight in gold. Even items about non-Boras players may be reported just to alter the market in a way that could benefit Boras clients. So when Heyman reports next week that the Yankees are considering adding Manny, try to keep your head on straight and think about who the price is being raised for.

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