I was shocked when Larry Johnson was released by the Kansas City Chiefs. The reason for my emotion was this man, this football player, was at one time the most dominant running back in the NFL. Larry Johnson was the guy taken 1st overall in fantasy leagues everywhere. Until Monday, LJ, like Shaun Alexander at one point, was without a job.

Take a look now at the present situation. LJ was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday as an insurance policy for the injured starter Cedric Benson. Who wins on this deal you may ask. As the title of this post so figuratively states, LJ does.

Johnson will receive his $4 million still owed to him by the Chiefs. In addition to this, he will receive $255,290 from the Bengals (this total is equal to the minimum veteran contract amount for the remaining time left in the season).

This season with the Chiefs, Johnson had 358 yards on 132 attempts with 0 touchdowns. Why is this relevant? Well LJ will be playing for a team that is 11th in total rushing yards and whose three running backs have a total of 889 yards on 216 attempts with 6 touchdowns.

Tim Hudson and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a 3-year/$28 million contract yesterday. Hudson agreed to take a pay cut in order to stay with the Braves, since he is from Alabama, which I guess it close enough to ATL.

Here is how the contract is laid out:

• 2010 – $9 million
• 2011 – $9 million
• 2012 – $9 million
  • If Hudson pitches 600+ innings over the next 2 seasons, he will take home a $500,000 bonus after the 2012 season.
• 2013 – $9 million club option/$1 million buyout

By signing Hudson, the Braves have shown faith in their pitcher that he will bounce back from his elbow injury which ended up in Tommy John surgery. Among the other active pitchers in Atlanta are Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Although not finalized yet, sources say that Griffey will be signed to a contract close to the one he signed before this past season – that contract gave Griffey a $2-million base salary and when everything was said and done, he took home $3.15 million after incentives.

I will update you all when the deal is finalized.

Mark Kotsay has inked a new deal with the Chicago White Sox on November 5th (15 days before he is slated to become a free agent and hit the open market).

According to RotoWorld.com (my #1 source for contract info), Kotsay and the Sox agreed to a 1-year, $1.5 million contract. This contract total was for the same amount that Kotsay made this past season. The thirty-three year old first baseman was acquired by the White Sox in a trade during the 2009 season with the Boston Red Sox for outfielder Brian Anderson.

Brian Anderson made near the league minimum in 2009 which is roughly around $400,000.

This is my first post on Sports Agent Blog after getting my start at Entertainment Agent Blog.  Being from outside the Philadelphia area, I’m heartbroken the Phillies lost to the Yankees.  But now that the season is over, the Phillies should reflect on their season and think about who will be returning next year.  The Phils got Cliff Lee along with Ben Francisco on July 29^th, in a trade for SS Jason Donald, P Jason Knapp, P Carlos Carrasco, and C Lou Marson in no doubt the best bargain of the season.  Without question, the trade paid immediate dividends for the Phils and at a bargain price.

The Phils didn’t give up that much in return for Lee.  None of the prospects did much of anything this year.  Carrasco went 0-4 for the Indians with an ERA close to 9.00.  Lou Marson batted .250 in 14 games, Knapp went 0-0 with an ERA of 5.40 in the minors and struggled with injuries, and Donald batted .257 with one R.B.I.  In 10 games for the Indians AAA affiliate. While some of these prospects may make it to the Majors, none of them have really shown potential to be everyday players.  On the other hand, Lee had a stellar second half with the Phillies and arguably one of the best postseasons in recent memory, all for a bargain price of their share of the $5.75 million he was due this year.

What makes the deal even sweeter for Philadelphia is that Lee also has an $8 million club option for 2010.  That means the Phillies could have at least one more year with Lee before he becomes a free agent.  The club option is relatively cheap for someone who went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in the regular season and 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in the postseason.  Management would be stupid to not pick up the option.  Letting Lee become a free agent will almost assuredly mean that he can command big money in the free agent market.

I think it is inevitable that the Phils will pick up the club option for next season.  The real concern for management is locking him into a long-term deal with the club.  If he performs next year like he did during the later part of this season and postseason, there is no telling what kind of price he is likely to demand in free agency.  He could demand a contract similar to what C.C. Sabbathia received from the Yankees.  There are only a handful of teams able to dish out that kind of cash.  If it comes to that, I hope the Phillies are one of them.

Rajon Rondo, the six-foot point guard for the Boston Celtics, has captured the worlds attention. The publicity he is getting is both positive and negative. The positive side being his performance with the Celts. In four seasons with Boston, Rondo has played in 239 games and has a .481 FG%, .271 3PT%, and a .635 FT%. However, he has recently been the target of criticism for being late to practice and for his overly physical play.

Whether troubled or not, the Celtics have decided that they want Rondo in their future and have signed him to a 5-year, $55 million extension. Rondo is often compared to San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. Here is how Rondo stacks up to Parker:

Rajon Rondo (2006-Present) – 239 G, .481 FG%, .271 3P%, .635 FT%, 1396 Assists, 416 Steals, 32 Blocks, and 2294 Points

Tony Parker (2006-Present) - 221 Games, .519 FG%, .315  3P%, .795 FT%, 1343 Assists, 206 Steals, 19 Blocks, and 4354 Points

Parker is slated to make $12.6 million this season and $13.5 million next season.

The young Celtics PG has improved his regular season averages significantly each year in the NBA and in his third year averaged 11.9ppg, 5.3rpg and 8.2apg. However, Rondo truly proved his worth when it counts most, in the playoffs. With Kevin Garnett sidelined, Rondo stepped up and almost averaged a triple double in the Celtics series with the Bulls and Magic, by posting 17.6 points per game, 9.7 rebounds per game and 9.8 assists per game, and adding 2.5 steals per game.

After such a stellar playoff performance, Rondo seemed to be a cornerstone of the Celtics franchise, however some in the organization questioned his leadership as well as his attitude. It was then rumored that Rondo was being shopped around in potential off-season trades by Celtics GM Danny Ainge. Without the extension, Rondo would have became a restricted free agent this summer.

As the deadline approached, it looked as if there was a chance that the extension would not get done in time. The Celtics and Rondo’s agent, Bill Duffy, were afforded an extra few days to hash out this deal due to the fact that the Oct. 31st deadline fell on a Saturday, and therefore was moved to midnight of the next business day. Fortunately for Celtics fans, the organization improved their offer and Rondo signed hours before the deadline on Monday.

I recently wrote a piece on veteran NFL players who were playing poorly during their contract year. News has broke from the Dallas Cowboys that they have signed DeMarcus Ware to a 6-year/$78,000,001 contract with nearly $40 million guaranteed. I will explain the added $1, shortly.

Before signing this big extension, Ware was boasting a 22-tackle, 2-sack season here in 2009. After shaking on a deal with Jerry Jones, he posted 2 tackles, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble this past Sunday. In a sport where many players go “soft” after getting paid, the Cowboys did a great job of realizing that maybe DeMarcus Ware wasn’t playing well because he wasn’t getting paid enough.  Interesting theory.

Now, on to the $1. It is being reported that Jerry Jones handed Ware a $1 bill with this message scribbled on it: “This is my last offer. Your great. Jerry Jones.”

When asked by the media what he thought of the deal, DeMarcus Ware had this to say:

“I feel like I work really hard and am really deserving of what they’ve given me. All this is behind me now. It’s time to get to work.”

Now that’s a player I want on my team.

Brady Quinn looked ever-so-promising at Notre Dame. He made many believe that he’d be a solid quarterback in the NFL, but after a rough start to the season, he has been benched for former starter Derek Anderson.

The devastation this causes on Quinn is two-fold. For one, he has to deal with the fact that he was benched and secondly, he stands to lose around $11 million in performance bonuses.

In Quinn’s contract, it states that he would have to play 70 percent of Cleveland’s offensive snaps to be able to scoop up two bonuses which are worth $10.95 million total. Quinn’s future in Cleveland is very uncertain.  There has been speculation that he would depart town after he posted his house up for sale.

One thing is for sure: Of the two quarterbacks drafted in the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft (Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell), neither have proven their worth.