One of the annual events at the Winter Meetings has become the State of Scott Boras address. It usually isn’t planned ahead, it just sort of happens. Today, the circumstances were ripe. Boras was at the press conference announcing the signing of Carlos Pena with the Cubs, so the assembled reporters gathered with him in the hall once that was over.

Boras discussed the latest on free agent clients Adrian Beltre, Magglio Ordonez and Rafael Soriano, while also talking about Prince Fielder’s uncertain future, and a lot more. Here is a sampling.

Beltre: “Well that’s a very busy market for Adrian. We’re in the middle of lot of negotiations with a lot of teams for him and they’re ongoing. “

The Angels are a team that could be a fit for Beltre, and Boras maintains — contrary to recent reports — that his client still has interest in the Oakland Athletics.

Magglio:”Actually we had a workout today with Magglio where he got a chance to illustrate where his baseball abilities were at, just to show he’s 100 percent. That took place this morning. Teams got to see that. I really don’t know [how many teams] because I haven’t gotten the report. I know that Detroit was there for sure.”

The Red Sox are a team that could compete with the Tigers for the services of Magglio Ordonez.

Soriano: “The closer market is always an interesting one in the sense that teams never ever want anyone to know that they’re interested in a closer. Mainly because there are few closers who are the sure 90 percent closers available and they never get to free agency. It’s almost like a dynamic where you don’t want anyone to know in your organization that the candidates you have to be a closer are not efficient for the role because you may end up with them. unlike starters, because there are five of them. Clubs I think are very cautious about interest in closers because it has such an impact on those who may have to do the job if they in fact don’t get the contract with the closer that’s a free agent.”

Prince: “I can’t really address that. I think that, in each situation, a general manager has got to look at the probability and whether the ownership wants the player to stay vs. the prospects and/or draft picks they may get. In each scenario, it really depends on the judgments of the variables given to the general manager. sometimes ownership gets to reflect on what goes on in the marketlplace and they may evaluate their positions on what they want to do with their existing players. We’ve certainly, had discussions last year. Doug and I met at the GM Meetings. We continue to talk. Whether mark and I are going to sit down, I don’t know. Doug and I are going to have meetings further about prince’s short term and potentially long-term situation.”

Fielder is eligible for free agency at the end of the season and Adrian Gonzalez, who was just traded to the Red Sox, is likely to sign a contract worth roughly $154 million over seven years.

Strasburg: He began his rehab oh, a month and a half, two months ago. Working out every day. Our Sports fitness people are working with him daily. He’s well into … the doctors say it’s obviously going to be the middle of next year before he’s going to be looking to get back to things.

There was a bit of controversy about Strasburg’s mechanics following the revelation he had to have surgery.

“I think we’re going to leave that to the Washington Nationals. There’s a lot of things that have been said. But we’ve been through the Tommy John situation with a  whole host of pitchers in my career. To suggest when you’re a young thrower with all that ability, to determine when that occurred or why that occurred … certainly the medical staff has, with the certainty that many prognosticators have placed out there, they’re not quite so certain that’s the case.”

Manny Ramirez: “Manny has certainly told me we’re out looking for a one-year contract. But remember, too, that this is Manny Ramirez. We’re talking about a contract that certainly will have incentives in it. But I think there are short-term contracts for players, and there are short-term contracts for players who have a historical history of being a great player like Manny.  We found out Manny had some medical maladies that had to be surgically repaired in the offseason, that we did not know about and that he played with during the season. I think it had a pretty big impact on his performance. He’s ready to go. he’s a guy that’s got his full health. Obviously, he’s looking for a situation that allows him to DH and play a bit, that he really thinks will aid him to stay in the batter’s box.”

Carlos Beltran:  “Carlos is doing well. obviously having gone through his surgery early in the season last year helped him. His return to play, he’s doing fine. He’s working out with a conditioning plan daily. His plan right now is to be a New York met. He has a no trade clause. If anything were brought to him, I think it would depend on what the situation were. I would say certainly now that his expectation would be to be a Met next year.”
 
The Red Sox have had least had mild discussions with the Mets about Beltran.

“He has a no-trade clause, so whatever decisions that he and Jessica make are going to be around the idea that any other information will come forward. I can only say that’s something the Mets would have to bring to Carlos. To date, Carlos’ plan is to be a Met, because he does control whether he is a Met or not. For those reasons, unless something unforeseen happens, I would say he will be a Met.”

Johnny Damon: “I think Johnny’s open to playing on winning teams. He definitely wants to be a part of an organziation that’s got a chance to do something. I think any club that he feels has a chance to win, he’d be interested in.”

– Ian Browne