NEW YORK — Few names stir Yankees fans quite like the one that keeps turning up at the worst possible moments. It does not belong to a rival slugger or a division foe. It belongs to a lawyer from Newport Beach who has spent years complicating the team’s biggest plans.
Scott Boras is the most powerful agent in baseball. He represents around 175 players and has negotiated many of the largest contracts in the sport’s history. For the Yankees, he has also been a recurring source of heartburn.
The wounds are recent and deep. Boras guided Juan Soto out of the Bronx after the 2024 season, steering him to the crosstown Mets on a record 15-year, $765 million deal. Soto had just helped the Yankees reach the World Series. His exit brought shock and dismay to the fan base.
Now, with the trade deadline near and the Yankees hunting for infield help, Boras has surfaced again. This time the flashpoint is a Giants third baseman, and the agent’s latest words landed like a door closing on a move New York might have wanted to make.
A comment that shut a window
The player is Matt Chapman, the San Francisco Giants third baseman and a Boras client. With the Giants viewed as possible sellers, Chapman had emerged as a logical target for teams needing a right-handed bat and a strong glove at the hot corner. The Yankees fit that description.
Then Boras spoke, and the picture changed. He addressed Chapman’s status in a conversation with John Shea of The San Francisco Standard, published July 13. Chapman holds a no-trade clause, which gives him and his agent significant control over any deal.
Asked directly about the odds of a Chapman trade, Boras offered a blunt assessment. His answer suggested New York and everyone else should look elsewhere.
“I would say that it’s not something on the radar,” Boras said, adding that a trade had not been discussed.
The remark carried weight because of its source. This was not speculation from an outsider. It came from the person who knows Chapman’s wishes best, and it pointed toward the player staying put in San Francisco.
Why the Yankees were looking
The interest traces back to a problem the club has carried all season. Ryan McMahon, acquired at the 2025 deadline to steady third base, has not hit. He entered the break slashing .210/.269/.360 with eight home runs, numbers that fall short even for a defense-first player.
His glove has slipped too. McMahon ranked near the bottom among qualified third basemen in defensive runs saved earlier in the year, removing the safety net that made his bat tolerable. He is signed through 2027, which limits the team’s flexibility.
That gap made a right-handed bat like Chapman appealing. Chapman is hitting .235 with seven home runs this season and plays elite defense. He also carries a six-year, $151 million contract, a price only a few teams could absorb. New York is one of them.
The fit was clean on paper. A contender with a hole at third base and the payroll to take on money is exactly the kind of suitor a selling team seeks. Boras, once again, stood in the path.
A pattern the Bronx knows well
This is not the first time Boras has loomed over a Yankees summer or winter. His history with the franchise runs long and often bruising. Some of it, the team brought on itself by chasing his clients.
The Soto saga is the freshest example. Boras played the Mets and the Bronx club against each other and delivered his client a deal no team could match without owner Steve Cohen’s checkbook. Years earlier, Alex Rodriguez, another Boras client, opted out of his Yankees contract in a decision that leaked during the 2007 World Series.
Not every chapter ended badly for New York. Boras negotiated Gerrit Cole’s $324 million contract with the Yankees in 2019, a deal that anchored the rotation for years. The agent is a dealmaker, not strictly an adversary, and New York has signed his clients before.
Still, the perception in the Bronx is clear. When Boras enters a Yankees storyline, the outcome often tilts against them. The Chapman comment fits that mold, closing off an option before it could fully form.
Where the pursuit stands now
For the Yankees, the search for third-base help does not end with one agent’s comment. The club is expected to explore other names before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, with McMahon’s struggles making the position a clear priority.
The broader race adds urgency. The Yankees reached the break at 54-42 and have slipped behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. A postseason spot is far from secure, and upgrades could decide how the second half unfolds.
Chapman, for now, appears to be off the board, at least according to the man who speaks for him. The Yankees will move on to other targets, aware once more that the road to a deal sometimes runs through Scott Boras, and that the toll is rarely in their favor.
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