Jeffrey Anderson's 2007 Weekly story “The Boras Factor” made great hay out of ways Newport Beach-based baseball super-agent Scott Boras gives his clients “the competitive edge” through high technology, physical trainers, psychologists, player profiles and even a “war room” he has at his–and their–disposal. “The company also tends to players' goals off the field, such as charitable work, and the interests of their families,” Anderson wrote.
But one area Boras and his minions steered clear of mentioning was “juicing” or the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED).
That's curious, given the roster of players that have been tied to the banned practice, the latest being, of course, Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers. Major League Baseball just suspended Ramirez for 50 games after the outfielder tested postive for PED.
Just before the season started, the MLB was rocked by the admission of perhaps the greatest player in the game, Alex Rodriguez, that he had
failed a drug test for Primobolan in 2003. Boras had helped make the Yankee baseball's first $200 million man.
Baseball's first $100 million man, pitcher Kevin Brown, another Yankee and Boras client, was mentioned in MLB's juice investigating Mitchell Report for using his super-agent's Newport Beach headquarters as the return address when he sent
cash to a steroid/HGH supplier.
Juicer-turned-squealer Jose Canseco accused catcher Ivan Rodriguez of using, but Boras later claimed Rodriguez was not his client at the time of the alleged doping. But several other Boras players have turned up in PED investigations over the years.
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Eric Gagne, who Boras got the Brewers to sign to a $10 million
contract three days before the Mitchell Report's release
revealed that Gagne bought HGH in 2004;
Scott Schoeneweis, who bought steroids prescribed by a doctor sports agents often send clients to;
Rick Ankiel, a former pitching prodigy who got a year
supply of HGH from the same New Jersey-based Internet pharmacy Schoeneweis used;
Ron Villone, a former journeyman pitcher mentioned in the Mitchell Report for buying HGH;
Gary Sheffield, who got caught up in the BALCO Labs scandal that
tarnished his training buddy Barry Bonds, although Shef told the grand
jury he didn't
know the substances he took were steroids.
Boras association with 'roid ragers, alleged and otherwise, has been known for years. Indeed, back in 2007, the website Steroid Nation claimed executives with several franchises are leery of signing Boras' clients due to the PED links.
Fortunately for Boras, there's always an exec with an open wallet out there somewhere.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.