Scott Boras and company have landed another top MLB client. Two league sources confirmed that Mike Gonzalez of the Atlanta Braves has switched to Scott Boras, leaving Dan Lozano of the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

According to Mark Bowman of MLBBlogs, the move to Boras is not suspected to cause any problems between Gonzalez and the Braves in re-signing Gonzalez. Boras and Braves GM Frank Wren are on good terms. So don’t expect a bidding war like Boras is sometimes known for. The Braves might not even attempt to re-sign him. It will all depend on the level of interest he receives from other clubs and the price they offer.

However, it seems almost definite that the Braves will give Gonzalez salary arbitration. He is a Type – A free agent, meaning the club will receive draft pick compensation if he signs with another club. The Braves would get a first round selection and another compensatory pick between the first and second rounds.

Gonzalez made $3.45 million in 2009. He posted a 2.42 E.R.A. in a career high 80 appearances for the Braves.

For example – last Monday morning at about 9am I received a phone call from an unfamiliar number. It turns out it was one of the fathers from the Canadian team I had scouted over the weekend. He had gotten my card from someone with the team and wanted to talk to me about how the whole player/agent relationship works at this point in a youngster’s career if they have aspirations of playing college hockey. I spoke with him for about 15 minutes, explaining that we couldn’t sign his son, provide him with any sort of benefits, or even have much actual contact with him, but we could work with the family in advising him about college choices and help to promote his abilities to college coaches (see NCAA Constitution and Operating Bylaws, August 1, 2009 at 12.3.3.1 which permits a prospective student-athlete to allow an agent to distribute records, statistics, etc. without jeopardizing eligibility). Naturally, I wasn’t expecting to start my day like this, but I was pretty pleased with myself by how I handled the conversation without any preparation. I guess in this competitive industry, you’ve always have to be ready. I told the father that I would be planning a trip up to Ontario in the near future to scout the team further and that I’d be more than happy to sit down with him and really discuss their options and timetable.

With these kids being so young, there isn’t much I can do for them now, but as I explained above, I still have a little wiggle room to work with. My plan – start getting these kids some attention throughout the hockey community. If they start popping up on scouting lists after talking with me, at least the parents will know that I’m the real deal. Immediately, I sent a couple emails out to some scouts who contribute to hockey publications. Most scouting reports don’t include the full crop of 95 birth years yet, but I want to get these kids noticed. Hopefully soon we’ll find out if any of my work is paying off.

Last week I didn’t give you an update on Matt’s situation and you might be wondering what’s going on with him. Right now, he’s still skating with the same club we got him signed with two weeks ago. He’s been seeing increased ice time and he’s taking advantage of it – yesterday he had an assist and a +2 rating. It’s been a few weeks since the CHL and SPHL seasons started and teams should be figuring out where they still need to upgrade. Thus, getting Matt back on their radars is my next move.

Also last week I called a couple of the teams I had spoken with in the past who were struggling defensively. Basically, I identified the teams giving up the most goals per game and then checked their rosters to see where the defensemen were on the +/- rating. Some teams had a few defensemen with a figure deep in the negatives, but many times the player would also have more goals and assists than the rest of the blueliners. As I’ve explained before, Matt’s more of a stay-at-home defensemen – one that will take care of the puck and keep traffic away from his goaltender but not a guy that’s going to be lighting up the lamp every night. Every team has different roles that need to be filled in order to find a certain level of success. Since Matt’s not going to compete with a defenseman who puts up big offensive numbers, I pretty much decided to focus on teams with defensemen without high point totals who were struggling to keep their +/- in the black. Fortunately I was able to reach a handful of coaches that sounded like they might be interested in bringing Matt in on a three-game tryout contract. Today, I’ll be sending the teams Matt’s updated resume as there’s already been a few coaching changes and not everyone currently has his information. Throughout the next couple of days I’ll continue to make some calls and we’ll see where it takes us.

Over the next few weeks I’ve got another challenge ahead of me – setting up my immigration law practice. Last Tuesday, I was officially sworn in and I should be receiving my certificate to practice law any day now. In the mean time I’ve got a lot of matters that need to be addressed.

Step one – find an office. Up until now, I’ve been working out of my home to save money, but with a steady stream (hopefully) of clients that I’ll have to meet with on a daily basis, I’m going to need something a little more professional. Last week, I checked out a few suites located about 15 miles west of where I live and I need to make a decision within the next couple days. After that I’ll be getting my business cards printed up, filing some documents with the State, and taking out my first malpractice insurance policy. With the seemingly never-ending list of fees being thrown at me, it can be extremely stressful at times. Luckily, my family has always been very supportive of me and they’re helping me out with some of the down payments.

Well there’s no surprise that I’ve got another busy week ahead of me. I haven’t gotten much sleep lately but I suppose that in today’s job market, I’d rather be swamped than the alternative. Before I go, I’d like to point out that last week SportsAgentBlog.com had over 20 new articles posted. There are a lot of solid pieces out there for anyone looking to break into the sports industry and I strongly encourage you to check them out. Also please feel free to continue providing the great feedback I’ve gotten so far in the “Comments” section of each entry.

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.

Agent Mark Stevens is in the news again. Back in 2006 he was compared to Drew Rosenhaus when he and another high profile client, Ron Artest, were in a strikingly similar situation. Well he seems to be attempting to follow the same playbook in his most recent attempt to get Stephen Jackson traded out of Golden State.

After publicly stating a desire to be traded back in August and some initial backlash with coach Don Nelson resulting in Jackson being absolved of his duties as captain, things have seemed to quiet down in Golden State. Jackson has been playing without incident and has put up numbers in line with his career averages. Jackson even had a 15 assist night just a few days ago. Golden State is said to have been in talks with up to 10 teams with interest in Jackson and has been attempting to weigh offers and find a reasonable trade. It seemed as if an amiable end is possible after this falling out.

Then Jackson’s agent, Mark Stevens, decided to publicly insult Coach Don Nelson in an obvious effort to speed up the process of getting his client traded. Whether or not Stephen Jackson had known Stevens was going to publicly insult his coach, we will never know, but this seems all too familiar territory for Stevens and seems to be a well thought out plan (or not so well thought out depending on your point of view). Could this be Stevens’ way of speeding up the trade process, while attempting to deflect some of the blame from Jackson, who already has character issues and a bit of a troubled history in the league?

Where I take issue with the strategy is that now GMs are not only concerned with dealing for a player who is going to publicly bad mouth them or the team, they are going to be dealing for a player whose agent will publicly bad mouth the organization. That is certainly not the type of thing an agent would like to develop a reputation for. Maintaining a positive dialogue with the organization would certainly increase the odds of a mutually beneficial resolution. Stevens’ strategy may result in Golden State choosing to eliminate the headache and the contract by trading Jackson for little in return, which could result in Jackson ending up with another non-contender…which is why he originally wanted out of GS.

It remains to be seen how the whole situation will play out; however, the bigger question is when, if ever, as an agent, is it beneficial to make inflammatory comments about a client’s coach, team or management? While this may be the strategy that some choose to use, in the long run respectable, private negotiations seem to be the best avenue for accomplishing the goals of all parties involved. We have seen many a case in which an unhappy player and agent try to force their way out of a situation, but they very seldom work out positively for all sides.

*Note: Ron Artest is no longer represented by Mark Stevens and Stevens does not have any other NBA clients.

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.

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.

I enjoyed the book so much that I want to give five lucky commentators the chance to read and enjoy it, as well.  All you have to do is write the correct answer (in the comments section of this post) to the question below.  The first five people who write the correct answer, will win a free copy of Never Make the First Offer.  Please use your actual email address, as that will be my method of contacting you to receive your shipping address.  Again, I do not care about who the first five commentators are, I care about the first five commentators to write the correct answer.

Here is the question: Name the former University of Florida basketball players that Donald Dell represents and the professional teams that they play for today.

And here is a clip from the man himself:

While the Bauer Invite officially kicked off last Thursday night at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, IL, I was out of town Wednesday and Thursday and didn’t get back to Chicago until around 8:40pm Friday night – and that’s where it all began. I knew the Soviet Wings 95s were going to be playing just miles from my home at 9:25 that night so I had to hustle. Fortunately, as with most tournaments, the rinks were running a little behind and so I was able to make it with time to spare. As the Zamboni was working its magic on the ice, I began to browse through the stats that I had printed off on both the Wings and their nemesis for the night, the Barrie (Ontario) Colts. I noticed that in the Wings’ first game of the tournament, a 2-1 victory, both their goals were scored by the same player – Artem Prokhorov. I decided to pay special attention to him and see if maybe the last game was a fluke – especially since when Artem stepped on the ice I noticed that he was also one of the smallest players on either team. After three periods and three goals for Prokhorov, I was convinced that this kid definitely had talent. Artem seemed to be a very fluid skater with good vision and excellent hands. There was one issue, however – his size. What makes things difficult, though, is that at the Bantam Minor level you’re dealing with 14-year-olds. At ages that young, you never know when a growth spurt could occur.

Besides age, though, a change in scenery could also make a huge difference in his muscle development. Over the past few years I’ve noticed a major flaw in the Russian amateur hockey system – lack of proper nutrition. In many cases it’s merely a monetary issue – most families in Russia can’t afford to buy the large amount of calories required by athletes competing at such a high level. And as for nutritional supplements such as protein powders and weight gainers that have become commonplace in North America  – I can assure you that for the most part such items are definitely not in the Russian family budget. I haven’t heard much of Russian amateur clubs providing nutritional assistance to their athletes, but it’s certainly something that, if properly implemented, could make a huge difference. It’s definitely one thing I plan on focusing on with all my Russian clients.

Anyway, I apologize for that digression. To get to my point, while I was impressed with some of what I saw from the young Russian squad, I needed to see more to be convinced. In addition, while the Wings handled the Colts by a final score of 6-3, there were a few players from Barrie that were very strong players and I made sure to make note of them.

So after a nice relaxing first night of play, Saturday morning started off with games at 7:00am at the Darien Sportsplex in Darien, IL. Knowing I needed to take advantage of having this much talent so close to my home, I managed to pull myself out of bed around 5:50am and head over to “the Plex” as we used to call it back when I was playing in these tournaments. I should note that one nice thing about the organization of the Bauer Invite was the selection of the facilities. Each age level had their games limited to basically two or three rinks which were close to each other in proximity. Thus, if you wanted to follow one age group, getting from game-to-game wasn’t too difficult. The 95s were playing in the three rinks closest to my home and the Wings were also a part of that bracket so I decided to follow them. Another factor in my choice to stick with the 95s was that I figured most of the scouts and agents would be lurking around the U16 games. For the most part, I heard that my theory was correct.

After watching my first game of the day, I wasn’t very impressed. Luckily, I decided to stick it out and see the next two teams. During that game I was able to notice three players on another team from Ontario that seemed to stand out among the rest of the kids on the ice. All three were forwards, but each had a slightly different style of play. While the flashiest of the bunch was also the smallest, I was extremely impressed by how “big” he actually played. At the same time, the other two were very solid physically and finished every check, but also had excellent vision on the ice. One final thing that really put it over the top with me was that all three players were gritty – each skated every stride like it was their last of the game. In my opinion, character can never be overlooked. If a kid’s constantly busting his butt, I’ll take him any day of the week over a slightly more skilled player that lacks a good work ethic. I glanced through my tournament program and noticed that the team’s next game wouldn’t be until just after 6:00pm back at Darien. I noted the three players in my notebook and highlighted their game on my schedule.

Next up – Soviet Wings vs. L.A. Selects at the International Ice Center in Romeoville, IL. The Selects are one of the top hockey programs in the States, so I didn’t’ want to miss this matchup. Physically, the Russians couldn’t hang with the bigger, stronger, and faster L.A. club. I was disappointed with the 6-0 score but really liked what I saw from a few of the Selects players. Before this tournament started, I decided that I wasn’t going to approach any players directly – I really felt that with kids this young, it just isn’t appropriate. Instead, I decided to find the head coach and chat it up with him for a bit. After a short talk, he let me know that he basically had an agent who he worked with and so he really couldn’t help me out. To be honest, I was just happy he decided to be upfront and not yank my chain around.

After the Wings/Selects, I headed back to Darien and met up with fellow SportsAgentBlog.com contributor and “Rookie Duties” follower Ryan Ballard. We grabbed a quick lunch and talked a little puck, but then it was right back to work scouting in the rinks.  We were able to catch some good games and noticed a few talented players but nothing that really jumped out at me.

From there it was over to my third rink of the day, the Rocket Ice Arena in Bolingbrook, IL, for the Wings second game of the day. This time they faced the Cleveland Barons, and while the score was much closer, the Wings once again looked flat and fell 3-2. Since registering six points in the Wings first two games, Prokhorov had been held to just one assist in the last two. In addition, with the Selects’ fourth straight win in Round Robin play, the Wings had been officially eliminated from competition.

By the time I got back to Darien for Ontario club’s second match of the day, I was completely exhausted but excited to catch the game I’d been waiting for all afternoon. Once again, the three boys I had noticed before played extremely well and their team was able to pull off a victory, which put them through to the quarterfinals. I had done a little small talking with some of the family members during the contest but I didn’t want to really flaunt the fact that I was an agent scouting their kids (although I’m sure it was fairly obvious) – parents can get protective when it comes to agents and rightfully so.

I knew I needed to talk with this coach at some point, and I decided to stake out the team’s locker room. As I caught him walking out, I first congratulated him on a solid win. Although he immediately seemed like a very approachable, friendly guy, he wasn’t extremely pleased with his team’s performance that night. Apparently the team had played games Wednesday and Thursday as well, bringing their total number of games played in the previous 72-hour period to six. When you include a nine-hour drive to Chicago in the same block of time, a little fatigue is certainly understandable. After talking hockey for a few minutes the coach asked which players I had been looking at. He agreed that the three I was most interested in were his three strongest players and told me I should see them skate when they aren’t as tired. I offered the coach my business card and he immediately asked for a few extras to give to some of his kids. Obviously I agreed and gave him all that I had left from the day. That’s when he did what I didn’t expect – he asked if I wanted to meet the three players I had been scouting. At first I was reluctant (or at least I wanted to appear that way) because I didn’t want to stress them out with anxiety the night before a big game. I was never a talented enough player to have agents coming after me at age 14, but I can imagine that while it may be exciting, the pressure that comes with the attention can be overwhelming. After the coach assured me that these kids would only be thrilled knowing that an agent had singled them out, I decided to talk with them for a bit. The coach pulled all three kids out of the locker room and I spoke with them as a group. I kept the conversation light and told them to just have fun and keep playing well. Their coach had suggested a few dates on their schedule that would be good for me to visit their town and watch them play at their home rink and so I also explained to the three boys that I’d probably be making a trip up to Ontario to see them play later in the season. While this is certainly true, I really just wanted them to know that their next game wouldn’t be a make or break performance. Like I said, the last thing I wanted to do was stress these kids out.

After talking a bit longer with the Canadian coach, I headed back to Romeoville to catch the rest of the games for the night. Nothing really blew me away, but I was still feeling pretty good about my encounter with the Ontario club just a few hours earlier. Their next game was scheduled for 7:00am Sunday, so it was going to be another early day. I spent Saturday night doing a little research on the Ontario boys and unfortunately didn’t get to sleep until about 1:30am.

On my way over to the Romeoville rink Sunday morning, I debated whether or not I should bring a “Box-o-Joe” from Dunkin’ Donuts to the rink. I’d been to enough tournaments to know the parents probably didn’t get to bed early Saturday night and it might be a nice way to get to know them. On the other hand, I was worried that buying coffee for everybody would be a little too much. In the end, I bought the coffee and shared it with a handful of the parents while others were a little hesitant. The coach also grabbed a cup while we talked briefly before the game. Although my contribution might not have gotten the reviews that I had hoped for, bringing it certainly didn’t seem to hurt and may have only made me stand out in the parents’ minds a little more.  In most cases that’s a good thing – a few of the parents did in fact thank me for my hospitality.

Unfortunately, while my three potential advisees had another strong outing, their team fell in the quarterfinals. After the game, I was able to talk a little more with the coach and parents and I even got the chance to watch some of the remaining games with two of the three boys before they headed home. While I didn’t want to ask for their contact information, I made sure they had my card and told them to call if they needed any help with anything. I also let them know that when I get my Ontario trip figured out, I’d get a hold of their coach and make sure the word gets passed along to them. It’s funny how I only had met the kids twice for a total of about 30 minutes but it was sad to see them go.

To top off the weekend, I caught a semifinal match of the 95 AAA Bracket (to that point I had been following only the 95 AAA Elites), and finally the 95 Elites Championship between the L.A. Selects and the Westchester (NY) Express. While the final game wasn’t exactly a nail-biter (L.A. won 7-1), I was able to meet with two other coaches and get some positive responses back from them. While most of these leads might not pan out to anything, getting our hockey division (and myself for that matter) exposure could never hurt.  You never know what breaks you might catch.

Don’t tell Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that the company is #2 to anyone in any sport.  They just don’t want to hear it.  Even in baseball, where Scott Boras is known as the king of the diamond.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported earlier this week that in a phone interview with CAA baseball agent, Joe Urbon, the agent stated that Jason Bay is “the most complete player on the market.”  Quite a bold statement by Mr. Urbon, who was well aware that some guy named Matt Holliday is also a free-agent going into the 2010 season.  Should Bay be given the edge because he had to compete in a very tough AL East while Holliday went from a mediocre AL West to a soft NL Central?  It is true that Holliday did struggle quite a bit in the AL.  He only hit 1 homerun in the first month of the 2009 season

Boras’ response: “Holliday is the only young complete free agent player available.”  I added the emphasis.  Interesting sly tactic by Mr. Boras, who subtly noted that his client, Holliday is 29-years-old, while Bay is 31-years-old.  You better believe that this factor, alone, drives up Holliday’s price.

I think it is smart for Urbon to make comparisons between Bay and Holliday.  It will only drive up the price of his client.  Let’s just hope that this is not an Urbon vs. Boras competition that stems from past experiences like the notorious case of Tacoby Bellsbury!