OC Register: Scott Boras had lunch with Arte Moreno, sparking speculation about Angels’ pursuit of Gerrit Cole

[AngelsWin.com]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In the middle of Scott Boras’ traditional media scrum at the GM Meetings, during which delivers carefully crafted one-liners amid a torrent of words meant to prime the market for his clients, the baseball super agent dropped this nugget.

He had lunch with Arte Moreno just “the other day.”

“It was good,” Boras said Wednesday of his meeting with the Angels owner. “He’s a guy that we talk baseball all the time. He’s very, very into the game. He’s really wanting to advance the interest of his franchise.”

While there was no indication that this was anything more than a routine meeting, it certainly stokes plenty of intrigue, as well as tossing water on the decade-old narrative that Moreno and Boras don’t get along.

Boras is the agent for Gerrit Cole, the top pitcher on this winter’s free-agent market. Cole is an Orange County native who most in the industry believe prefers to play on the West Coast. The Angels have made no secret of the fact that they need pitching, and are prepared to shop at the highest levels.

Boras wouldn’t indulge further questions about the nature of his lunch with Moreno, or who else might have been there.

“I don’t want to give you the lunch roster,” he said.

Boras then added, unsolicited, that “Andrew Friedman was not at that lunch, by the way.” Friedman is the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.

Cole, who starred at Orange Lutheran High and UCLA, certainly could help the Dodgers, as well as the Angels. Boras, in typical fashion, suggested that every team ought to be after his client.

“If this were Major League Christmas, we would be looking at 30 stockings that would clearly want a lump of Cole,” Boras said with a grin.

That being said, the Angels figure to be on the short list. Boras made a point of saying that geography doesn’t give them an advantage, although obviously he doesn’t want to scare East Coast teams out of the bidding.

“I don’t think geography matters to any of these guys as much as what matters is the continuance of winning and being able to achieve their goal of getting that rare win,” Boras said. “In Gerrit’s case, when you’re that close, you’re really looking at this process as one that ‘I’ve got a box to check and I want to go out and put together the best effort to put me in that position to do that.’”

Cole and the Houston Astros lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Washington Nationals last month.

Whoever signs the 29-year-old Cole is likely going to have to pay in excess of $30 million per year for at least seven years. Many have suspected that process will drag past the new year, reminiscent of Bryce Harper’s negotiations last winter. Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in late February, days after the start of spring training.

Boras, who is also Harper’s agent, said he didn’t anticipate Cole taking that long. He said a report that Cole would not sign until January is “inaccurate.”

Boras said “all” of his free agents “have the possibility of signing much earlier than that. The clubs are wanting meetings and they are wanting to get in front of the players. They are all telling me they are wanting to make much earlier decisions. I did not hear any of that last year.”

Of course, every word out of Boras’ mouth is part of the negotiation. He obviously wants teams to believe there is fierce early interest in his clients, which encourages larger offers earlier.

Boras’ negotiating tactics back in 2008 caused some friction with Moreno. The Angels had been trying to bring back Mark Teixeira when they reportedly pulled their offer, believing that Boras was simply using them to drive up the cost for other teams. Teixeira ended up signing with the New York Yankees.

Boras said Wednesday that any conflict with Moreno is ancient history.

“It’s so distant I don’t remember it,” he said. “I sit down with (Moreno) every year. I see him all the time. We have a common restaurant where we run into one another. I wouldn’t read much into it.”

Angels general manager Billy Eppler said that he’s seen no evidence of any friction between Moreno and Boras. Eppler said his relationship with Boras has been good for 17 years, since Eppler was starting out as an amateur scout in Southern California.

Eppler said he has lunch with Boras every winter, although he wouldn’t say if this winter’s meeting had happened yet.

At some point, presumably Cole will have a meeting with Eppler, Moreno and probably Manager Joe Maddon, and they’ll have their chance to demonstrate to him that he should sign with the Angels.

As far as Boras is concerned, the sooner all that happens, the better.

“I think any player wants to sign early,” Boras said. “I don’t know of anybody who doesn’t want to have this process done to his satisfaction (early). Obviously you have to have meetings and you through an inaugural conceptual exchange with franchises you are going to be working with for a long period of time. Those are things that are organic to the process. But any player wants to sign early.”

View the full article

[Second Base]

Translation: The Angels are interested in free agent SP, for which Boras represents pretty much all of them.

[DMVol]

Sure, we can sign him early....it’ll probably cost 325 million, but it’s doable....