Scott Boras sets Blue Jays up for more heartbreak with Bregman and Alonso leverage plays

If Boras Corp. were a marketing agency, Scott Boras would have complete creative control. MLB's superagent has already made his buck this winter after Juan Soto agreed to a $765 million deal. This is about pride, as Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman are just two of the latest Boras clients to wait well into the winter in pursuit of a long-term deal which meets their expectations.

So far, Boras hasn't flinched, but his playbook is well-known. Boras tends to leak information to the media for leverage, in hopes of pressuring interested parties to increase their offers. With Alonso and Bregman that has not worked thus far, but with the Astros re-entering the chat for the latter recently, Boras's leverage is back in play.

In a recent radio hit, USA Today's Bob Nightengale appeared on Area 45 with Bijani and Creighton and discussed the possibility of a Bregman reunion. While Nightengale did confirm some Astros interest, he made sure to mention they weren't alone in meeting Bregman's demands.

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Blue Jays destined to finish second for Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso

Per Nightengale, the six-year, $156 million contract the Astros offered Bregman in December is still on the table, but the Toronto Blue Jays have also made their own six-year offer. Teams like the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers haven't been willing to give Bregman a long-term offer.

While I'm not sure I buy what Nightengale is putting down in this instance, it does add more pressure for the Astros to work out a deal before Bregman gets impatient. In that sense, if this were a Boras negotiating ploy, it was well-executed. Unfortunately for the Blue Jays that likely means Toronto is not Bregman's preferred destination, which is a position Ross Atkins is all too familiar with.

The Blue Jays started this winter with big plans, but so far all they have is Anthony Santander to show for it. Juan Soto, Roki Sasaki and countless stars have led them astray. If there were a second-place reward in MLB free agency, the Blue Jays would have clinched it by now.

With a Bregman deal looking less likely by the day, their last hope could be Pete Alonso. Yet, per Sportsnet's Jeff Blair, even Alonso signing north of the border is a stretch. While Steve Cohen and the Mets has responded to Boras's bad intentions with more hardball, eventually those two sides will realize they need each other. Toronto, once again, is just a ploy until proven otherwise.

Blue Jays fans deserve better than this.