Blue Jays: Does Marcus Semien changing agencies impact his return?

Earlier today it was announced that Marcus Semien was changing his agency representation, ditching Wasserman Media Corp and becoming a client of The Boras Corporation, led by super-agent Scott Boras.

The move probably does not come as a surprise, considering Semien is a pending free agent and will be looking to secure a huge payday after the season he had with the Blue Jays. He played all 162 games for the club and finished with a .265/.334/.538 slash line, smashing 45 home runs with 102 RBI. Semien led all AL second baseman in terms of RBI, OPS, and slugging while setting a Major League record for home runs by a second baseman in a single season at 45, breaking Davey Johnson’s record that he held since 1973.

For his career, Semien owns a .256/.324/.444 line and was using this past season as a bounce-back campaign after the Oakland Athletics let him go without even giving him a qualifying offer. After signing with the Blue Jays on his one-year deal, he has certainly regained his value, and with Scott Boras now in his corner, he will be looking to cash in on what will be one of the most stacked free agents classes in recent history.

So how does Semien changing agencies impact the Blue Jays trying to retain his services?

Well for starters, Scott Boras is known for getting the most bang for his buck when it comes to his clients, representing top tier players such as Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rendon, and Bryce Harper and securing huge contracts for them in the process.

Pending free agent Marcus Semien is now being represented by Scott Boras, making one wonder whether this change of representation has any impact on him returning to the Blue Jays.

For the Blue Jays, this means they will most likely be paying top dollar to try and get Semien back on the roster. While he most likely wasn’t coming back for pennies, Semien will be looking for multiple years and the most money with a pretty strong agent in his corner now. This also most likely shuts the door on Semien signing the qualifying offer the Blue Jays are 100% going to offer him, meaning they will at least get some sort of draft compensation if he heads elsewhere this winter.

While the Blue Jays and Boras had their differences in the past, with the agent referring to the club as “the Blue Flu” and that the Jays a few years ago saw a huge attendance drop because they refused to bring “attractive players that their fans find interesting.”

However, these two sides mended their issues two years ago when the front office signed Boras client Hyun Jin Ryu to a 4 year, $80 million dollar contract, as money talks in the world of baseball.

This changed Boras’s tune after the club added Ryu,  “I said before that they built the lamp and now they’re looking for the right light bulbs. I think they’re in ready pursuit of a group of players that they think can be additions to the core they’ve built. I think they’re very confident that those additions will lead them to levels that they haven’t been at for some time.”

Even though the two sides are now on good terms, Boras will obviously be looking for the best deal for his client, and considering the rumour mill is churning out that Semien prefers heading back to the West Coast, there really is no indication right now as to whether the club will be bringing him back next season and beyond.

Considering the Blue Jays and Semien discussed a contract extension earlier this year, under the guise of his former agency, there is the potential that the two sides could meet again before free agency begins considering Boras wasn’t a part of the conversation at the time. This most likely won’t change Semien’s trajectory towards free agency, again because of his new agent representation, but there is hope the club can bring him back if they come with the deepest pockets amongst the other suitors.

While free agency is still weeks away and an upcoming CBA about to expire, Blue Jays fans are in for an interesting offseason, with quite a few different options on the table with how the club will shape up come 2022.