Scott Boras' ego has yet to recover from A-Rod's pounding

Sunday, December 30th 2007, 11:52 AM

Several weeks after Alex Rodriguez broke free from Scott Boras’ influence and personally talked Hank Steinbrenner into rethinking his Yankee opt-out ultimatum, a lingering media perception suggests that it was all some clever plan contrived to get A-Rod his $300 million and repair his battered image.

Perhaps A-Rod has only himself to blame for such cynicism that surrounds his every move. But baseball insiders insist the hard feelings on A-Rod’s part toward Boras are genuine, that in taking over the negotiations himself he accused his agent of betrayal by misleading him about the level of interest from the Yankees.

Likewise, they say that Boras is reeling from the ego blow A-Rod dealt him by telling the world on “60 Minutes” he’s not even speaking to his agent these days.

“Yeah, (Boras) made his commission,” a prominent agent said this week, “but, come on, do you know how much money he has? With Boras it’s all about being king of the jungle, the most powerful agent and the toughest negotiator in the game.

“He loves being the guy that everyone in baseball fears. He wouldn’t for a minute concoct a plan that would diminish his reputation. His image as a god to the players is too important to him.

“A-Rod might not be the most popular guy in the game, but don’t think he didn’t do some serious damage to Boras’ image. He basically called the guy a lying weasel on national TV. Nobody in the business is shedding any tears for Boras, believe me, but he took a serious hit.”

For that matter, A-Rod detailed what many in baseball have suspected Boras of doing for years: keeping clients in the dark about negotiations as he goes about making the deal he wants to make.

On one hand, it seems hard to believe that A-Rod was oblivious to the Yankees’ level of interest in re-signing him before he opted out. On the other, according to one person close to the situation, it’s very believable because A-Rod - and his wife, Cynthia - trusted Boras so completely.

“And Boras didn’t seem comfortable dealing with the Yankees about A-Rod once George Steinbrenner was out of the picture,” the person said. “He had a relationship with George, who always said that Boras was a tough but fair negotiator. But Hank and Hal (Steinbrenner) didn’t play up to him. Hal, especially, was tough with him. Boras didn’t like dealing with Hal.”

News source：http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/12/30/2007-12-30_scott_boras_ego_has_yet_to_recover_from_.html