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When Scott Boras' phone rings, agent quips: 'Just another owner begging to meet with Skubal'

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗
Cite

Blum, R. (2026, November 11). When Scott Boras' phone rings, agent quips: 'Just another owner begging to meet with Skubal'. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/when-scott-boras-phone-rings-agent-quips-just-another-owner-begging-to-meet-with-skubal/article_d2d7fb78-34ee-500f-a250-4f9534e4a940.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Toronto Star · collected 2026-11-12 · by Ronald Blum

Quick Summary

Scott Boras, a prominent baseball agent, joked during his annual press conference at the general managers meetings in Las Vegas that another team owner was eager to meet with one of his clients, pitcher Tarik Skubal. The article highlights Boras's anticipation of an upcoming lockout as the current MLB labor contract expires and discusses his representation of high-profile free agents like Max Scherzer. He argues against a proposed salary cap by emphasizing players' willingness to sit out in protest and criticizes management’s economic proposals, using puns related to some of his clients’ names throughout the discussion.
Written by AI on 2026-11-12, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 11, 2026, Scott Boras, the prominent agent representing free-agent pitcher Tarik Skubal, reported receiving numerous calls from team owners eager to meet with Skubal. Boras made this revelation during a press conference at MLB’s annual General Managers’ Meetings in Las Vegas. Tarik Skubal is expected to meet with six teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, in California in mid-November as part of his free agency process. The market for Skubal, who won two Cy Young Awards, is highly competitive, with MLB teams preparing aggressive bids despite looming labor negotiations that could lead to a lockout starting December 2. Boras emphasized the strong interest from multiple clubs, indicating Skubal could set a new contract record for pitchers.

Written for “Tarik Skubal MeetingsWithOwners” on 2026-11-13, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

How they differ

3 outlets covered “Tarik Skubal MeetingsWithOwners”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

Toronto StarThis outlet12 Nov

Scott Boras, a prominent baseball agent, joked during his annual press conference at the general managers meetings in Las Vegas that another team owner was eager to meet with one of his clients, pitcher Tarik Skubal. The article highlights Boras's anticipation of an upcoming lockout as the current MLB labor contract expires and discusses his representation of high-profile free agents like Max Scherzer. He argues…

When Scott Boras' phone rings, agent quips: 'Just another owner begging to meet with Skubal' (this article)
Daily Caller11 Nov

ESPN reports that the New York Mets are scheduled to meet with free-agent pitcher Tarik Skubal in California next week as part of their efforts to sign him during the upcoming free agency period. Despite David Stearns, the Mets’ president of baseball operations, declining to comment directly on this pursuit, insiders suggest the team is seriously interested due to owner Steve Cohen’s financial resources and the…

Mets To Meet With Tarik Skubal As Free Agency Begins: REPORT →
New York Post11 Nov

Scott Boras, a prominent sports agent, reported during a press conference at MLB’s General Managers’ Meetings in Las Vegas that multiple team owners are eager to meet with his free-agent client Tarik Skubal, a two-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher. The market for Skubal is described as strong and lucrative, with six teams scheduled to meet with him next week, including the Dodgers, Mets, Padres, and Blue Jays…

Owners ‘begging’ agent to meet Tarik Skuball, threatening Dodgers’ free agency pursuit →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 9% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
Hedges 4 of 31 claims Outlet record 66/100
Toronto Star
Hedges 8 of 38 claims Outlet record 64/100
“Article A focuses on Scott Boras' news conference and a phone call, while Article B discusses Tarik Skubal being the main topic of conversation at the meetings. Although both articles are about the same event (general managers meetings), they describe different specific incidents.”
The Daily Caller
Hedges 1 of 13 claims Outlet record 92/100
“Article A describes a quip made by Scott Boras about an owner wanting to meet Tarik Skubal, while Article B reports on a planned meeting between the Mets and Tarik Skubal. These are related but separate events.”

Story

Tarik Skubal MeetingsWithOwners
Sports · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↑
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
23
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
2 of 23 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-12 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 13874 article(s) · 29 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 29 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

Ronald Blum
31 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
Tarik Skubal, a Boras client, could set a contract record for a pitcher.
Some players not selected will be with the under-23 team preparing for the 2028 Olympics.
Players could start negotiating terms with all teams at 5 p.m. Eastern Monday.
Starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Nick Martinez also will become free agents after their teams declined mutual options.
When Jake Bauers gloved the final out of the Milwaukee Brewers’ first World Series triumph, it might have ended the last Major League Baseball game for a long time.
A month shy of his 68th birthday, Murphy could soon become the first person to win a Manager of the Year award in three straight seasons.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jacob Misiorowski pitched with poise when he couldn’t overwhelm with punishing heat, overcoming Tampa Bay batters and the Tropicana Field mound to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to their first World Series title.
William Contreras became the eighth catcher voted the World Series MVP after lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to their first World Series championship.
A month shy of his 68th birthday, Murphy could soon become the first person to win a Manager of the Year award in three straight seasons.
Tampa Bay, which won the AL pennant by forcing opponents into mistakes, committed one error, made two other misplays that could have been charged as errors, and had a runner thrown out at the plate.
Also by Ronald Blum
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 31 articles by Ronald Blum →

Topics

Boras LAS VEGAS MLB Major League Baseball major league

Subjects

Boras PERSON · 6× MLB ORG · 2× Skubal PERSON · 2× LAS VEGAS GPE · 1× Major League Baseball ORG · 1× Max Scherzer PERSON · 1× Nick Martinez PERSON · 1× Randy Arozarena PERSON · 1× Scott Boras PERSON · 1× Tarik Skubal PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Among his groaners: — “It’s very clear that there is a dominant and strong Sku-Bull market.” — “Teams are not devoid of pursuing their championship fortunes and they understand there’s only one Tarik card.” — “Teams have filled their tanks and they’re all clearly ready for the Skubal dive.” ___
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-12
Tarik Skubal, a Boras client, could set a contract record for a pitcher.

Claims (23 extracted, 2 hedged)

Scott Boras was 15 minutes into his annual pun-filled news conference at the general managers meetings when a cellphone rang in his pocket. asserted
cellphone → fill → pocket
“Just another owner begging to meet with Skubal,” baseball’s most visible agent quipped Wednesday. asserted
agent → beg → Skubal
Boras represents about two dozen free agents in what Major League Baseball hopes is the last offseason without a salary cap. asserted
Baseball → represent → cap
Tarik Skubal, a Boras client, could set a contract record for a pitcher. uncertain
Skubal → set → pitcher
Teams are negotiating to reach deals before an expected lockout starts Dec. 2. asserted
lockout → negotiate → deals
“There’s a clear intent on a group of players,” said Boras, whose free agent clients include Randy Arozarena, Nick Martinez and Max Scherzer. asserted
clients → ’ → Arozarena
“They’re pursuing it aggressively.” asserted
They → pursue → it
MLB’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 at 12:59 p.m. EST and management is expected to immediately start the sport’s 10th work stoppage since 1972. asserted
management → expire → 1972
On the day before the lockout began in 2021, there were 27 announced contracts that totaled more than $1.4 billion — include deals for Boras clients Corey Seager and Marcus Semien that accounted for $500 million. asserted
that → begin → million
Boras maintained veteran players are willing to sit out in order to fight off a cap, which owners have proposed for the first time since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994 and ‘95. asserted
owners → maintain → 1994
“They are the ones that are the most aware,” he said. asserted
he → say → ?
“They are recipients of what others did for them and they are in great places in their lives and they’re more than willing to share, contribute, aid and frankly stabilize the approach that the veterans took for them to apply to the young players of today.” asserted
them → ’re → today
He called management’s proposal to increase the major league minimum salary to $900,000 a carrot. asserted
He → call → carrot
“They’re so repetitious. asserted
They → ’re → ?
They are anticipated,” he said. asserted
he → anticipate → ?
“Those are very de minimis advances, knowing the ask of what they want to take away.” asserted
they → know → what
He used the term “Reven-occhio” — wordplay on the children’s story character Pinocchio, whose nose grows when he lies — to say MLB’s claims economic change is needed are belied by private equity’s investment in teams. uncertain
change → use → teams
He claimed a salary cap was “something that is going to create a true talent tyranny” and increase club equity value at a far higher rate than player salaries. asserted
that → claim → salaries
“The Broncos sell for $4.5 billion five years ago and the Seahawks sell for $9.6 billion,” Boras said, citing approximate amount of those deals. asserted
Boras → sell → deals
What’s the cap structure do for the players? asserted
structure → do → players
And the reality of it is they’re sitting there going with this modest increase of half that, 50%.” asserted
they → sit → that
“The asset class of our game is documented throughout by genius owners, genius owners having the freedom, the ability under this system, to come in and advance their thoughts, to bring in the wherewithal for them to grow a franchise to its optimum,” he said. asserted
he → document → optimum
Among his groaners: — “It’s very clear that there is a dominant and strong Sku-Bull market.” — “Teams are not devoid of pursuing their championship fortunes and they understand there’s only one Tarik card.” — “Teams have filled their tanks and they’re all clearly ready for the Skubal dive.” ___ asserted
they → ’ → dive
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