Boras talks on Bourn, Lohse, Soriano

Scott Boras spoke with Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com recently and the super-agent was his every bit as entertaining and over-the-top in his advocacy for his players as ever. The man who once compared Oliver Perez to Sandy Koufax had this gem when asked about Michael Bourn, Rafael Soriano and Kyle Lohse, who all remain unsigned:

"People call me all the time and say, 'Man, your players aren't signed yet.’ Well, it doesn't really matter what time dinner is when you're the steak."

According to Crasnick, Boras was less concerned about the impact of compensation picks and the new CBA than with the stagnant spending in the game following the latest TV deals and revenue reports. Still, it is hard not to wonder if Boras has overplayed his hand this time with respect to these top three remaining free agents. With new rules governing free agency, the biggest name in sports representation seems to be behind the curve.

Michael Bourn has yet to receive an offer as fellow center fielders like Shane Victorino, B.J. Upton and Angel Pagan have found homes and taken away potential suitors. While Texas and Seattle keep coming up in rumors, both teams are far more focused on trading for Justin Upton than they are on Bourn.

Kyle Lohse has drawn interest from just about every team that has been on the market for starting pitching, but he has also had to watch the market for his services shrink with the Red Sox signing Ryan Dempster, the Angels inking Joe Blanton and trading for Tommy Hanson and the Nationals choosing Dan Haren. And now, the Cardinals are now distancing themselves from him as well. Coming off the best season of his career, Lohse is still not getting much love right now.

Soriano may be in the worst position of all though, as the market for relievers seems to less lucrative now than when he signed the 3 year/$35M deal with the Yankees that he opted out of early this off-season. He wants to close and there competitive teams like the Blue Jays and Tigers that could use a closer, but he also has the added cost of a draft pick attached to him while alternatives like Brian Wilson, Jose Valverde, Kyle Farnsworth, and Francisco Rodriguez do not.

Boras has made the strategy of holding out work for him in the past, but this off-season it seems that at least one of these players could end up regretting their rejection of the qualifying offer after signing for less money on a one year deal elsewhere.