LOS ANGELES — It was scorching hot the other day at Angel Stadium. Scott Boras did not need to be there, chatting up players several hours before a game between two of the three worst teams in the American League. He did not need to be there the previous day, when he did the same thing.

And he certainly did not need to be in Modesto over the previous three days, perspiring even more, as he looked at minor league players. Boras, the most famous agent in baseball, employs about 150 people. No doubt one of them could have checked out the Nuts. (No, really, the Modesto team is called the Nuts.)

Boras is 71. The rebellious young agent who repeatedly ferreted out million-dollar loopholes in baseball's draft system is no longer young, in an era his rivals are more likely to run on Red Bull than red wine. He could be taking a bow and winding down, not gearing up for yet another winter of staring down major league owners.

What else would he do? He tells the story of how he could not enjoy a summer vacation in Paris because, as much as he loved art and museums, he loved baseball even more, maybe too much.

"I had to leave two days early because I didn't sleep," he said, "because every night at 3 o'clock I was watching all the games on the iPad."

Boras is the agent fans love to hate, the face of blame for fans who believe players make too much money or exhibit too little loyalty, or both.

He steals the spotlight at the winter meetings simply by holding an extended press conference, talking baseball without divulging any major news, firing off puns and metaphors — some funny, others cringeworthy — and grabbing headlines at an event where most team executives prefer to hide in their hotel suite.

No other major agent is so readily available. He is not beloved among rival agents, but most of them do not mind that Boras willingly absorbs all the slings and arrows from the "players are greedy and agents are ruining the game" crowd.

His list of accomplishments includes: first agent to negotiate a $100 million contract (Kevin Brown, 1998); first to negotiate a $200 million contract (Alex Rodriguez, 2000); first to negotiate $1 billion worth of contracts in a winter (2019-20, and twice more since then).

Yet he is proudest of his work in the draft, even if major league owners have closed the multiple loopholes Boras has exploited. In 1996, one of the loopholes Boras uncovered turned a first-round draft pick — a high school pitcher named Matt White — into a free agent.

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