Is Cal Raleigh dropping his agent good news for Mariners?

Nov 23, 2024, 6:54 PM

Seattle Mariners Cal Raleigh home run Oakland A's 2024...

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh homers against the Oakland A's in 2024. (Christopher Mast/Getty Images)

(Christopher Mast/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

On the same day that Cal Raleigh finished 12th in the American League Most Valuable Player voting, an interesting piece of news materialized about the Seattle Mariners star catcher.

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ESPN MLB insider Kiley McDaniel reported in a social media post on Thursday that Raleigh has dropped Scott Boras as his agent and switched his representation to Excel Sports Management.

Raleigh is under club control through 2027, but the Mariners no doubt would like to secure the 27-year-old Gold Glove-winning catcher to a long-term deal sooner than later. The switch-hitting slugger, who made his MLB debut in July of 2021, is entering his first year of arbitration.

Boras, long regarded as the most powerful agent in baseball, is known for encouraging his clients to test free agency and securing them massive deals. However, his reputation took a bit of a hit last offseason as several big-time clients remained unsigned late into the offseason and settled for shorter contracts than expected.

What does this mean for the Mariners’ chances of keeping Raleigh in the Pacific Northwest long-term? Mike Salk weighed in Friday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“It doesn’t mean anything bad, I know that,” Salk said. “… The fact that Cal is no longer working with Boras seems like great news. I don’t know if this means he’s doing it in order to get a deal signed here, and if maybe he’s now open to some sort of an extension and wanted to do it with somebody other than Scott Boras.

“But at the very least, it makes that possibility a lot more likely than it was (Thursday) morning, when I thought the chances of that were essentially zero. Cal Raleigh plus Scott Boras plus the Mariners equals eventually going to free agency. Cal Raleigh plus Excel Sports Management plus the Mariners means ‘I don’t know.'”

Raleigh is coming off another spectacular season in Seattle.

The former third-round draft pick led all MLB catchers in home runs for a third consecutive year, blasting a career-high 34 homers. He is the first catcher to lead his position in homers for three straight seasons since Mike Piazza did so from 1999 to 2002.

Raleigh was just as good behind the plate. He won the AL Platinum Glove Award as the best defensive player in the league, regardless of position. He also became the first catcher in Mariners history to earn an AL Gold Glove Award.

Raleigh threw out an MLB-high 26 runners on stolen-base attempts, leading the majors in that category for a second straight season. He also tied for the AL lead with 16 defensive runs saved, caught an MLB-high 1,122 innings, led all AL catchers with a 5.4 FanGraphs WAR and was the backstop for a starting rotation that posted an MLB-best 3.38 ERA.

“We’ll see what happens here over the next year or two, and maybe they are able to get something done to keep the guy here long-term,” Salk said. “And if they do, maybe that leads to a bit of a domino effect. Maybe that helps entice somebody like (All-Star pitcher) Logan Gilbert or whomever else to try to stay here long-term as well.

“So it certainly isn’t bad news. It may be no news. But hopefully it’s some good news.”

Listen to the full segment on Brock and Salk at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.