NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — The sun was fading over Orange County when Scott Boras walked into the kitchen of the Boras Corporation headquarters to make some tea. He had found a moment of calm after a week of clandestine meetings, record-setting contracts and an unexpected reference from Senator Bernie Sanders. He started to heat up the water when he noticed the dimness of his surroundings. Boras flicked a variety of wall switches, trying in vain to illuminate the room and its attached cafeteria.



“I’ve got to figure out how to turn the lights on,” Boras said. “I just work here.”



The building had appeared uninhabited when Boras wheeled his black Range Rover into the parking lot late Sunday afternoon, a few days removed from a 72-hour period at the Winter Meetings in San Diego in which he negotiated $814 million in deals for three free agents: Gerrit Cole ($324 million from the Yankees), Stephen Strasburg ($245 million from the...