NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. _ Interviewing Scott Boras is more like being in the audience of a one-man play.
The man can talk. He pauses during his stories for dramatic effect.
A question about his relationship with Jerry Reinsdorf leads to a soliloquy about Barry Zito's leadership qualities. Ask whether he believes the Cubs will trade his client Kris Bryant, and Boras details his disdain for the letters "CBT" _ baseball's Competitive Balance Tax.
Boras, 67, is uniquely suited for his job, a line-drive hitter who reached Double-A and earned both a law degree and a doctorate in pharmacy. To fit in with his minor league teammates during long bus rides, he would cover the shell of his textbooks with a nudie mag.
"I didn't want to look like a nerd," he explains.
Boras has a profound respect for baseball, offering bits of enduring wisdom in the same way "Bull Durham" once did. His essential take on the game comes from George Kissell, who spent 69 of his 88 years learning and espousing the "Cardinal Way."
"This game is not yours," Boras says, quoting Kissell. "You do not own this game. You are allowed to participate in this game. Understand the game is ever-changing; it is the feather in a windstorm. It'll come to you and it'll go away."
Boras rarely submits to long-form media interviews because his time is so precious. He represents about 75 players on big league rosters and about 80 more in the minors. His 135-person staff includes international scouts, development gurus, athletic trainers, sports psychologists, 40 researchers and a $10 million database he calls "my Ferrari."
We caught Boras at the right time, with no Bryce Harpers still on the market, unlike last February. We met at the conference table in his office in Newport Beach, Calif., near the yacht clubs of Balboa Island. He drank Earl Grey tea.
Boras lost money in his first nine years as he waited for his 5% share of contracts to exceed his operating costs.
"My father gave me some great advice: Don't buy anything you can't pay for," he says. "He raised crops (alfalfa and oat hay) and said: 'I can't rely on the weather. I might have a bad crop.' So everything I own is paid for. No debt. That way I sleep at night. I know what I have."
What he has, in the words of a baseball executive who spoke to the Tribune, is "an empire."
Boras' company has negotiated more than $9 billion in baseball contracts, and his clients had the richest offseason in the history of the game.
Gerrit Cole signed with the Yankees for $324 million, an all-time high for a pitcher. Boras got $245 million from the Nationals for pitcher Stephen Strasburg and another $245 million from the Angels for third baseman Anthony Rendon.
He negotiated Dallas Keuchel's three-year, $55 million deal with the White Sox, calling it a "really good idea" for both sides _ a veteran starter who can mentor Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech and Reynaldo Lopez.
In all, Boras' fruitful offseason yielded $1.2 billion in contracts.
To celebrate, Boras had a cake made for his staff. The tongue-in-cheek message in frosting: "Over $1 Billion Served."
The actual message he delivered: "We did something that's never been done in sport. Your talents are the reason this happened. We have built the Everest of agencies."
Here are eight takeaways from the two-hour interview with Boras.
