Baseball

• I know that he is old, but I find Miguel Tejada to be an intriguing free agent [The free agent do-call list].
• Are the Giants upset that Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive Cy Young Award? [It's Good News . . . No Wait, It's Bad News]
• You know all these free agents by their last names alone, but where will they be playing next year? [Baseball shifts into shopping mode]

Football

• Outside of QBs, DEs are the big cash cows [Under the Cap: Top Ten Defensive Ends].
• Slashing of NFL coach pensions may have assistant coaches looking to work in college football [NFL coaches eyeing college jobs].

Basketball

• “Trying to police this mess would be a difficult task if the NCAA employed the FBI.” [No rules needed in NCAA business world]

Tennis

• Nice to see two entities from Switzerland getting along [Credit Suisse and Roger Federer enter long-term partnership].

I am always looking to expand my journalistic portfolio.  While this site is my baby, I had a brief stint as a contributing writer for ESPN and have been a part of many different radio shows in the past.  Most recently, I wrote a piece for The Bulletin, a newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The topic is Temple University football.  It just hit the web yesterday, and is a little outdated (Temple went on to beat Akron), but hopefully you still think it is a good read.  If you are in Philly, you can read it on those things still being printed on paper (they’re called newspapers).  For those of you outside of the City of Brotherly Love, go ahead and check it out here: It’s Time To Rally Around The Cherry And White.

Here is the first paragraph from the article:

At this time last year, the only reason that I would have been talking about Temple, was to find out which one I would be attending for Friday night Shabbat services.  But this year, I have a new reason to mention that six letter word, and it is in relation to the Owls.

On Monday, I talked with Michael Fertik, CEO of ReputationDefender and the genius behind a brand new creation: NameGrab.  Michael is an entrepreneur, so we clicked right away.  He started creating businesses straight out of law school, and has been very successful in his previous pursuits (when you get an endorsement from Dr. Phil, you’ve officially “made it”).  He founded ReputationDefender in 2006, but only recently started marketing it after putting countless time and energy into its development.  Today, there is roughly ninety people in his company with customers in spanning forty countries.  His existing products allow a person to monitor his/her reputation on deep web contente that is not even visible through Google searches, remove unwanted contact information from websites, and publish information that one wants to come up through Google searches.

But what is NameGrab all about?  Interestingly, it puts into motion an idea that I had been discussing with a colleague of mine a couple of weeks ago.  As Monasterio stated in his excellent post,

The main point is to acquire these online properties, even if you don’t use them at first. It’s far better to have nothing on a Web page than to have cyber-squatters fill the page with advertisements.

The problem is that athletes and their agents do not want to spent the 10-30 minutes it takes to sign up for the hundreds of websites.  And new social networking sites sprout up from the ground every day.  How do you know which one will be the next Twitter?  The safest bet is to at least reserve a piece of property on each one of them.  The only property you can own is a user name.

Fertik, through NameGrab, has automated that system.  For $100, he promises that an athlete or agent will be able to reserve three user names.  Those user names will be confirmed by NameGrab and then the athlete/agent will have the opportunity to claim the email addresses associated with those names, if he/she so chooses.  NameGrab has plans to include the purchasing of domain names with those user names and also may feature deals for sports agents who have more than three clients that they want to reserve names for.

It seems like a really cheap option that could save athletes and their agents a lot of drama and money in the future.  Cybersquatting is becoming a big issue.  Even college freshmen and first year medical students are finding their names taken by the time they want to register for many social networking sites.

I am currently giving NameGrab a test with the user names DarrenHeitner, Kyle McPherson (a baseball client of mine), and sportsagent.  I will report back on my findings.

It makes sense that major West Coast agencies continue to grow.  Creative Artists Agency was a player in the entertainment world well before it started buying out the largest sports agents/agencies.  It figured that its existing model and connections could bring in more revenue than those entities had been receiving in the past.  It seems to be doing quite well with that business plan.  Another company with broad entertainment connections for its clients is Wasserman Media Group.  I don’t know when agent Arn Tellem finds time to sleep, with his enormous list of clients in professional basketball and football.  He probably receives over one-hundred calls per day from GMs, reporters, and clients, and still finds time to go on the recruiting trail and find new business.  He also keeps his current clients happy, and seems to have a strong connection to the entertainment world through his wife, Nancy Tellem.  Nancy is the President of CBS and is in charge of all of its television programming.

Quite the power couple, and it definitely benefits Arn’s clients.  Recently, Pau Gasol made an appearance on CSI: Miami.  Last year, Gasol and Jordan Farmar appeared on NUMB3RS.  Both shows are on CBS, both players are clients of Arn Tellem and WMG.  Gasol and Farmar are not the biggest names in the game of basketball, but both of them are playing in Los Angeles, so it is natural for them to want a piece of the limelight.

Want to be a MAJOR player in this industry?  Better start cultivating those connections in the entertainment industry, as well.

Drew Rosenhaus has had his fair share of clients that he represented prior to and during the NFL Draft, but he is mainly known for the sheer number of players who switch to him when it is time for them to re-negotiate their contract or sign their big second contract.  Rosenhaus’ competition hates it, and so they should.  As an NFLPA certified advisor, you most likely have to pay for your clients’ training, food, and housing prior to the draft (and anything else that comes up).  Then, if you are lucky enough to have your clients drafted, you will take a meager 3% at tops (many agents charge less just so they can compete with guys like Rosenhaus) of their professional contracts.  For non-first rounders, that figure does not come out to much.  Last, you can’t sleep at all because you are always worried that your clients will make a switch to a different agent before you are actually able to negotiate the big contract and make some sort of money to live off of.  Only to possibly lose your client to a guy like Rosenhaus.  Rough life, but you chose to live it.

In baseball, we rarely discuss a guy like Rosenhaus, who players flock to once they are ready to negotiate a big contract.  Scott Boras grabs all the bonus babies before they are drafted and rakes in his nice 5% advising fee early in their careers.  Sure, some players leave their agents for Boras, especially right before becoming arbitration eligible, but we don’t hear about it ALL that much.  In fact, Boras recently lost a big fish to a rival agency; one that might start making a name for itself as one that picks up players after they make it to the pros.

Hendricks Sports Management is run by Randy and Alan Hendricks.  The brothers started the firm in the 1970s, sold it to SFX, and then re-formed the agency in 2003.  They have been in the business for a very long time, are connected to basically every important person in the business of baseball, and have seen their fare share of arbitration cases.  There’s a certain comfort factor for players who are looking to make a switch in representation.  And they are quiet about the clients they actually represent (their website does not list any).  Once a team that represented 16% of all Major League players, after they re-formed the agency in 2003, they say that they are more selective about who they represent.

So why the possible relation to the Rosenhaus brothers?  Well, last year, the Hendricks brothers grabbed Rick Porcello from none other than Scott Boras Corp.  Recently, they signed former Cuba defector, Kendry Morales, who used to be represented by David Valdes.  Is this the start of a new business model for the Hendricks brothers or did they just offer to represent two players who were upset with their previous representation?  Definitely something to keep an eye on.

Football

• The St. Louis experiment is failing while the Cowboys investment in their big boys is working well [Under the Cap: Top Ten Guards and Centers].
• A look at just how competitive recruiting college football players is for agencies of various sizes [The race to sign college prospects].

Baseball

• Could they have found a worse picture of Hendry? [Unloading Milton Bradley without paying steep price won't be easy for Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry]
• NY Yankees GM taking a hard-line approach to impending contract discussions with Matsui and Damon [Yanks’ Cashman Won’t Be Swayed].
• Clocked as high as 98.75 mph, but he is 30-years-old (due to Japan’s rules regarding free agency) [Hard-throwing reliever aims to leave Japan].
• Arn Tellem gets in on the blogging action [Hideki Matsui: An Ageless Talent].
• A lot more young players about to get cut? [The Changing Landscape of Salary Arbitration-Eligible Players and Free Agents in Baseball]

Sports Agent

• Some great advice for agents who might not be as involved as they need to be [The Proverbial, I Don’t Know].

Yesterday, I tweeted that DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles dropped DeBartolo Sports as his representation and picked up Rosenhaus Sports.  Jackson is on pace to break his impressive stat-line that he posted in his first year in the league.  Last year, he barely missed breaking 1,000 yards receiving, but only caught two touchdowns.  This year, in half as many games, DeSean has double the amount of TDs as last year and looks like he will break the 1,000 yard mark (as long as he remains healthy).

This is not the first young receiver to switch from DeBartolo to Rosenhaus this year.  Back in July, former University of Florida standout, Louis Murphy made the jump.  DeBartolo is known in the industry for its amazing job recruiting prospective clients.  What is the reason that they are having a tough time retaining them?  Two WRs lost to Rosenhaus in the same year cannot be something that they are happy about.

DeSean Jackson probably thought that he should have been picked higher than #49 in the 2008 draft, but why wait so long to drop his agent?  Could he have been shopping this whole time?  Next Question..

Larry Johnson is not the only athlete who needs a lesson on social media best practices.  There are many others who have the potential of being in his shoes, or worse, in the future.  It is very easy to write a 140 character (or less) message and click send, immediately blasting those words to the world.  That is why it is so important for athletes and their agents to be very careful in implementing a solid social media policy.  Speaking of agents…

Agents also have to be careful about what they tweet.  Their words do not only reflect on their own image, but affect their clients as well.  If an agent is posting controversial tweets, it could affect the way that others perceive him and his clients.  Agents are known to frequently tweet about their clients (as a side note, we are putting together a master list of sports agents on Twitter.  Follow that list by clicking here.), but rarely do you see an agent talking bad about another person’s clients.  Especially when the player is a direct competitor of your client.  It just seems like a bad practice.

A few days ago, though, Allan Walsh (@walsha) did just that.  The hockey agent for Octagon who represents Montreal Canadians goalie, Jaroslav Halak, tweeted:

“Interesting stat of the night….Price is 10W, 32L in last 42 starts. Hmm.”

Walsh was referring to starting goaltender, Carey Price.  The tweet has been deleted from Walsh’s account since the it was covered by various media outlets.  It is not that Walsh is right or wrong about his statement, and he is definitely entitled to his opinion, but perhaps it is better that he keep that opinion to his close friends and not share it with the world on Twitter.  It got Walsh a lot of publicity, but that is not our goal as agents; it is doing the best for our clients.  Does the tweet help out Halak at all?

Walsh responded to the criticism he received from the tweet with the following statement:

“It was a tongue in cheek comment not meant to be taken seriously, forgot it was Montreal and everyone loses a sense of humor.”

I tweet about athletes who are not my clients, and sometimes I may even make jokes about them.  But I have never written a bad tweet about a direct competitor of one of my clients.  For instance, I would not tweet about how poorly another reliever was doing on the AAA Memphis Redbirds squad while Pete Parise was the closer.  That type of discussion is better reserved for talks behind closed doors with management.  The point will still be heard by the other side of the table, without the additional public embarrassment for all parties.

When I was first contacted in July by Bob Apprill of DARI Sports, I was not sure about his product.  The email I received from Bob seemed like a whole lot of gibberish.  I am happy that I followed up on that initial communication, however.  Here is part of what he said:

I represent DARI Sports (darisports.com), who has developed a new method to perform biomechanical analysis. This process has been developed specifically for athletes for the purpose of evaluating and increasing performance. Although there are various kinematic methods in place, we provide dynamic kinetic data never before achieved. Traditional methods involve the use of a force plate, and are relatively inaccurate. DARI’s analysis produces incredibly precise, and applicable, data in a much more concise manner. Although revolutionary, there are already several professional and collegiate athletes taking advantage of this new technology.

It sounded pretty interesting, and Pete Parise agreed to being a test subject for the new technology.  Just before Parise was tested at the Athletes Advantage facility, DARI Sports was visiting the University of Tennessee and collecting data on Freshman runningback, Bryce Brown.

On the morning of October 31, Pete Parise was the man being studied.  At first glance it looked like something out of a video game, with Pete in a 32 point reflective spandex suit, surrounded by cameras and laptops.  Over a two hour period, the researchers at DARI put Parise through a series of tests from biomechanical evaluation, to a movement based athletic test and a sports specific fatigue program.  Parise would throw, then the staff at DARI would fatigue him and then repeat the process.  While throwing, DARI’s motion-capture system recorded every movement made by Parise from the beginning of his pitch to the end.  The cameras immediately sent the information in 3-D format to the laptop recording all the information.

After the testing, Ed Smith of Athletes Advantage stated, “The progressive fatigue protocol to demonstrate the effects of fatigue on throwing mechanics was unique and beneficial to our athletes.”  The staff at Athletes Advantage received a detailed report of the findings.  These findings will further assist in Parise’s off-season development.

In a world where every athlete is looking to gain the smallest advantage over their competitors, the tools that DARI Sports provides can serve as a great value.  This is especially true as athletes are getting smart about staying away from performance enhancing drugs that have a great risk of jeopardizing their careers and their lives.

I would like to thank Bob Apprill and the rest of the team at DARI Sports for making this testing event possible.  For more information about DARI Sports, head over to their website: darisports.com.  A picture of Pete throwing during his testing is below.

Cuba is known for producing remarkable talent on the diamond.  Its players are followed by every single MLB organization, and many agents dream about getting their hands on the next Cuban-born prospect.  Recently, the baseball world has been caught up with what team Cuba’s most recent defector, Aroldis Chapman, will sign with.  Chapman is just the newest Cuban player to clog the headlines, but in the past, many others have been in the spotlight, and unfortunately, so have their agents.

Representing Cuban defectors is risky business.  Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez, co-founder of California-based Total Sports International Inc., was handed a five-year prison term in April 2008 for smuggling prospects out of Cuba.  Juan Ignacio Hernández Nodar, was a Miami-based sports agent who received a fifteen-year sentence for the same thing: helping Cuban players defect from the island.  Nodar was recently released one-and-a half -years earlier than the full length of the sentence.  You can thank Nodar for being able to watch Orlando “El Duque” Hernández over the years.

The U.S. and Cuban governments tried to make examples out of Gus and Nodar, and for a long time, we have heard little about Cuban baseball defections.  It makes me wonder how closely government officials have been monitoring Aroldis Chapman’s defection.  I assume that his agents were especially careful in the way they managed his affairs.  One would hope so based on the penalties handed down to guys like Dominguez and Nodar.