Dan Connolly

Scott Boras met with Duquette; no contract extensions looming

By Dan Connolly

Posted on September 22, 2016

Player agent Scott Boras, who represents pending free agent Matt Wieters and several other current Orioles, met with executive vice president Dan Duquette this week in Baltimore.

They talked in general terms about various issues, including Wieters, but it was more an exchange of ideas than anything specific, an industry source said.

Boras, who is based in Southern California, also spoke with club owner Peter Angelos during his trip east.

Any potential extension for Wieters, who has spent his entire career with the Orioles since he was drafted with the fifth overall pick in 2007, will wait until the offseason, if one happens at all.

Duquette, who has agreed to in-season or postseason extensions for Adam Jones and J.J. Hardy in the past, prefers to wait on contract negotiations until the offseason. He reiterated that sentiment Thursday.

“The club is focused on the season and playing into October,” Duquette said.

Wieters is one of the Orioles’ more notable pending free agents along with Mark Trumbo and another Boras client, Pedro Alvarez.

Boras negotiated a $161 million extension for Orioles’ first baseman Chris Davis last winter.

A four-time All Star, the 30-year-old Wieters is hitting .235 with 14 homers and 60 RBIs this season, his eighth in the majors.

Wieters, who had Tommy John surgery in 2014, could have become a free agent last year, but accepted the club’s qualifying offer of $15.8 million in November.

He’ll likely enter a free agent class this offseason that lacks high-profile catchers besides the Washington Nationals’ Wilson Ramos.