St. Louis Cardinals: How does Marcell Ozuna’s new agent change things?
By Matt Graves
The St. Louis Cardinals Left Fielder is due to be a free agent but recently signed with a new representation agency. What does this change?
The St. Louis Cardinals finally seem to have a solid 2-3-4 spot in the lineup. Starting with newly acquired first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and finishing with impending free agent Marcell Ozuna cleaning up at the four spot. This true middle core of the lineup is something that the Cardinals have looked for seemingly since Albert Pujols left after 2011 and when the offense has been on this year, it’s been very exciting to watch.
One of the big questions that has come up that will continue to come up if his play on the field continues is whether the Cardinals should let Marcell Ozuna walk in free agency or try to resign him. I have written multiple times about Ozuna being dead in the water, then that I was wrong, and then that his hustle on the field is super encouraging for the rest of the year. The one thing I have maintained throughout all those articles is that I believe Ozuna should not be resigned.
That is going to be a standing I am going to hold firm for a very long time and it would take a lot for me to believe that Ozuna should stay in St. Louis longterm, but I’ve seen people on Twitter and in comment sections start to call for the Cardinals to resign the streaky outfielder.
Recently, one of the biggest obstacles changed for Ozuna: he got a new agent.
As Derrick Goold noted, Ozuna was formerly represented by Scott Boras. While Boras has cashed in in the past for many of his clients including Bryce Harper this past offseason, he has also caused some of his clients to not have a team by the start of the season. Most notable on this list currently is Dallas Keuchel. Boras is a shrewd businessman but in recent times the market may be fighting back on his type of agent that makes so many high demands for his clients.
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Boras is also notorious for getting his clients to free agency. Because of this, it would’ve been almost impossible for the Cardinals to resign Ozuna before free agency if they even would’ve been interested in the first place.
Now though, the Cardinals (should they be interested) would be negotiating with a very familiar face that they have worked out friendly extensions with before. As seen above, Ozuna is now repped by MDR Sports management who also represents Yadier Molina. This obviously doesn’t mean an extension is close or that the Cardinals stance on Ozuna would change, but if they do ever become interested in resigning Ozuna, the negotiations should be friendlier and hypothetically, an extension easier to agree on.
Most likely, Ozuna changed agents after he saw the way that Boras clients were paid this offseason and believes he will have a better representation with his new management. This is something I don’t doubt is true and he may not even want to stay in St. Louis at all. Now the only Scott Boras client left on the Cardinals is Matt Wieters.
Overall, this doesn’t necessarily change anything for me about how I feel about resigning Ozuna, but it is a check mark back towards the yes column. The biggest change is that an extension during the season gets one obstacle (Scott Boras) taken away. At the end of the day, Ozuna performing well in 2019 will be a win-win for both him and the Cardinals regardless of if he resigns or not.