In 1993, Gilbert was sharing headlines with Scott Boras in publications like Sports Illustrated.  He was able to achieve record breaking deals for clients whose names you have heard a few times before: Bobby Bonilla, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds.  He also represented George Brett.

Beverly Hills Sports Council (BHSC) still exists today, and over a decade ago, Gilbert was the head honcho at the agency.  He started the company with Jeff Borris and Rick Thurman, who along with Danny Lozano and Dan Horwitz, are still in charge of BHSC today.  And Gilbert did not pay much attention to the draft.  He left that chore for Scott Boras to handle, a competitor of Gilbert’s, who was even loathed by owners back then, sixteen years ago.  Boras used and continues to use a claiming negotiating approach, while Gilbert was known by owners as someone who could create value for both sides in a cooperative style.

In 1999, Gilbert retired and put his sports agent hat in his closet.  Immediately, he took on his current role of special assistant to Jerry Reinsdorf.

In 2002, Gilbert funded a baseball field in South Central L.A. that cost $1.5 million to build (now the home to MLB’s RBI Youth Program).  That is pennies compared to what he will have to pay to own the rights of the much larger Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Earlier this week, Jimmy Scott’s High & Tight interviewed former MLB player, Desi Relaford.  Jimmy gave me a tip to check it out because the topic turned to Desi’s agents.  Instead of listening to the long clip, I started in that particular area of conversation, which begins around the 27 minute mark.

Desi originally signed Beverly Hills Sports Council before switching to Professional Sports Planners later in his career.  When Desi was released by Colorado in 2005, his relationship with BHSC started to become rocky.  It would take him a couple weeks to a couple months to get calls back from the agency.  Desi felt like he was low on the totem pole, which he says happens to a lot of BHSC clients as their careers begin to start declining.  Desi believed he still had it in him to play professional ball and did not feel as though the two agents (he does not mention specific names) designated to him were truly supporting his cause.  He dropped BHSC and found his next MLB job with the help of his wife.  Desi said that he needed to make a change on representation and that it did not matter who he signed with.  He switched to PSP and is still with them to this day.

Desi Relaford made some strong accusations against BHSC and completely dissed the company’s professionalism.  He mentioned that there was a time where he didn’t talk to his agents for 6 months, even though he had made many efforts to reach out to them.

I bet you Barry Bonds does not feel the same way about BHSC.  I cannot remember a week in the past year that there was not an article published in some paper about Jeff Borris (agent at BHSC) complaining about MLB teams colluding against Bonds.  I bet Desi and others wish they had the same kind of treatment.

And for some old school Desi…

Back in November, I wrote about the Pittsburgh Pirates global recruiting effort, especially the pickup of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, contestants in India’s “Million Dollar Arm” reality TV contest.  While their future within the Pirates’ organization is still unknown, Darren Rovell reported on Monday with updates to their story.  When I mentioned last time that the two were being represented by Jeff Borris, Barry Bonds’ agent, I was unaware that they had employed Bonds’ marketing agent Jeff Bernstein as well.  Bernstein was also the creator of the “Million Dollar Arm” show.

Singh and Patel have yet to even be assigned to a team in the Pirates system, but Bernstein is busy creating marketing opportunities for the duo.  Film producer Mark Ciardi is shopping the film rights to their story to Disney and Miramax, among other financiers and studios.  Bernstein noted that he will seek out product placement deals once the film rights have been sold.  He has also had success in finding the two pitchers a substantial amount of sponsorships, considering the hard economic times.  These deals include UnderArmour, Wilson, Upper Deck and Playoff (trading cards).  Bernstein has also used their ethnicity to their advantage, garnering a sponsorship deal with Ethnic Kitchen, a frozen Indian food producer.

Real pirate ships aren’t the only pirates in the news for their global endeavors anymore.  Recently, the Pittsburgh Pirates have made additions to their club from around the globe, including Monday’s signing of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel from India, and the South African Mpho “Gift” Ngoepe a few months ago.

The 20-year-old “pitchers” Singh and Patel are a gamble for the Pirates, as neither had picked up a baseball before entering India’s reality TV contest “Million Dollar Arm” in March.  In fact, neither won the contest, but both came to America following the show.  After working out for several months with Coach Tom House, the two held a tryout in Arizona attended by 30 major league scouts.  The two hurlers are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside of India.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that it is believed the Pirates signed Singh and Patel for bonuses between $15,000 and $20,000 each.

Perhaps the Pirates are turning over a new page; in the past the organization rarely searched for players in nontraditional markets.  Pirates’ general manager Neal Huntington had this to say about the new players:

“The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization.  By adding these two young men, the Pirates are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market. We are intrigued by Patel’s arm strength and Singh’s frame and potential.”

Whether or not Singh or Patel ever make the Pirates’ major league club is questionable, but Huntington doesn’t seem to be the only one confident in their ability to play at the highest level.  Jeff Borris, Barry Bonds’ agent, signed both after watching them workout in Southern California and liked their raw potential.

Likewise, the 18-year-old Mpho Ngoepe could become the first player from South Africa to reach the majors.  The switch-hitting shortstop is scheduled to play for his country in the World Baseball Classic, after which he will likely join the Pirates’ Gulf Coast Rookie League team in Bradenton, FL.  Also like Singh and Patel, Ngoepe is a project for the Pirates, as his game is rather unpolished but shows promise.  The “Gift” had the opportunity to train with former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin at an MLB sponsored academy, and Ngoepe appears to be integrating some of Barry’s style into his own.

If any of these players make a major league squad it would mean a great deal for the globalization of baseball.  No longer will Asia and the Americas be the only source for young talent.  Regarding the signing of Singh and Patel and the Pirates leading the way in new markets, scout Ray Poitevint expressed that, “For the Pirates to be at the forefront with this is really a coup for them.  I admire Pittsburgh for coming and taking charge.  Usually it’s Boston or the Yankees, but the Pirates took charge.”  If I had to guess, as soon as these guys show some real promise, Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein will both be sending a team of scouts to India and Africa.

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Tuesday that they have put a freeze on season-ticket prices and offered an interest-free payment plan. Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Jeff Moorad says his club has lost a corporate sponsorship with their ballpark pool. The San Diego Padres, general manager Kevin Towers said, are braced to cut payroll to $40 million.

Maybe the Yankees, Mets, and White Sox will survive the economic storm unscathed, but smaller market teams may take a big hit.

Besides injecting their persuasive words into negotiations to sway owners to give up more bucks in a hurting economy, agents are looking to what the future may hold in taxes now that Obama has been declared the next President of the United States.  Obama would like to raise the top federal income tax rate from 35% to 39.6%.  At this point, it is merely a wish.  There is no knowing whether such a plan ever goes into effect.  If the tax rate were to be increased for the next fiscal year, then signing bonuses paid before Jan. 1 should not be taxed at the higher rate.  Thus, some agents are thinking about getting their free-agents into an established uniform earlier this time around due to potential tax breaks over signing later on.

My thoughts are that the teams who notoriously spend money will continue to do so, while the Marlins, Rays, Royals, etc. keep their low payrolls.  The real change may be seen with those clubs that spend somewhere in the middle.  If sponsorships and/or ticket sales go down, expect those teams to cut salaries.  However, I do not see teams adopting such measures proactively.  Instead, I think that any salary cuts will be based off of lower figures once they start rolling in next year (if numbers are indeed down at all).  As far as the federal income tax rate, it should be interesting to see if free-agents tend to sign earlier this year due to the potential of a raise in rate by the new Democratic administration.

The first two paragraphs of Article XX Section E of the 2007-2011 MLB Basic Agreement reads as follows:

(1) The utilization or non-utilization of rights under Article XIX(A)(2) and Article XX is an individual matter to be determined solely by each Player and each Club for his or its own benefit. Players shall not act in concert with other Players and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs.

(2) Upon any finding of a violation of Section E(1) of this Article XX by two or more Clubs, any injured Player (or Players) shall be entitled to recover in monetary damages three (3) times the lost baseball income, he (or they) would have had but for the violation. Such lost baseball income shall be limited to lost salary and other lost contractual terms, including lost additional contract years, lost signing bonuses, lost trade restriction provisions, lost option buyout provisions, and lost incentive bonuses (e.g., performance, awards, attendance and weight bonuses). Damages (and fees and interest) may be recovered only from the Clubs found to have violated Section E(1) of this Article XX.

So but for the violation, what would have Bonds made this past season?  It depends on what an arbitrator would find to be the proper amount.  Bonds made more than $15 million in his final season with the Giants.  Do you use that figure and multiply it by three, or do you use the minimum major league salary that Borris was pushing for ($390,000), which no team would offer to pay?

“With (Carl) Crawford and (Evan) Longoria going down simultaneously, I thought I’d make one last vain attempt to reach out to Tampa Bay, and to no avail,” Borris told FOXSports.com.

And then Borris returned to his normal shpiel…that of collusion.

“That’s because Major League Baseball has been successful in their pursuit in blackballing Barry out of the game.”

In the midst of all of this, Borris may be burning bridges with Tampa Bay execs by going public about his text message campaign.

“I’m not sure what Jeff Borris is trying to accomplish by saying he sent me a text message,” Friedman said. “But our longstanding practice is not to comment on anything speculative.”

Is money the issue?  Bonds has expressed that he will play for a pro-rated share of the major league-minimum salary of $395,00 with the funds donated to charity.  Still, no team has expressed an interest in Bonds.  Are steroids the issue?  While Bonds is the poster boy of the steroid era, Major League Baseball is currently littered with steroid users.  Players such as Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte have admitted using steroids and HGH, yet this has not prevented them from earning millions of dollars on major league rosters.  The same can be said about other players named on the Mitchell Report such as Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada and Rick Ankiel.  Is Bonds’ character the issue?  I doubt that as well.  Manny Ramirez in recent weeks shoved the Red Sox traveling secretary to the ground, slapped a teammate in the dugout, and sat out an important game against the New York Yankees for no apparent reasons.  Yet these character flaws will not prevent Ramirez from signing a multimillion dollar deal in the offseason.  Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was arrested and charged with assault after punching his wife Kim Myers after an argument in 2006.  Yet Myers was welcomed back to the Phillies.

Bonds, now 45 years old, is reportedly in great shape.  Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, said Bonds told him:

“He would be ready in a very short period of time. He thinks he can be ready 10 days, two weeks. And with the first trading deadline coming up, I can’t understand why my phone is not ringing off the hook.  No one is even asking about him.  I talk to the clubs every day for a variety of reasons and his name is never brought up anymore. I’m more convinced now than ever that he won’t be in a major league uniform in 2008, and I think that’s a pathetic way for him to go out. I think he’s deserving of better. He gave his heart and soul to this game.”

Union head Donald Fehr recently examined possible collusion against Bonds, but has yet to file a formal grievance.  Borris hinted at the possibility of collusion:

“If everything were fair and equal in the world, Barry should get a fair market value offer,” he said. “But since everything is not fair and equal, I decided to offer him for the minimum. I thought for sure there would be a taker, and there were none. If that doesn’t raise the level of suspicion, I don’t know what does.”

Major League Baseball is filled with players named on the Mitchell Report; players with poor character and players with criminal records.  These players continue to sign million dollar contracts.  Yet Barry Bonds, possibly the greatest player in our generation, if not in all of Major League Baseball history, the player who led baseball in O.B.P. in 2007, remains unsigned.  Any team can have Bonds’ services for the small price of $395,000.  Yet not a single team has shown any interest at all in Bonds.  Smells like collusion to me.  Stay tuned to see how this story plays out.

“[Barry Bonds] has nothing to prove there,” Jeff Borris told the Associated Press. “He doesn’t need to go to an independent team and hit two home runs a night hoping to get attention to prove that he still has the skills that would warrant him playing at the major league level.”

Well now that you put it that way, Mr. Borris, I challenge you to put Barry Bonds on an independent league team. I will bet that he does not average two home runs a game in however long his stint is with that organization.  Just because your client cannot find a single team to pay him a low six-figure salary for the remainder of this season (even the Yankees are balking on him), you have to go out and attack independent leagues like the Atlantic League?

In fact, I am not even sure that Barry Bonds would have a spot on the Long Island Ducks starting roster.  Their outfielders include Carl Everett, Nook Logan, and Richard Hidalgo.

The Rays are busy talking internally about proposing an offer to Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, but have kept all conversations in house for the time being. And Borris is not exactly a wealth of knowledge for the time being. He had this to say:

“I talk to Tampa Bay all the time for a variety of reasons. I won’t comment on that [Bonds] one way or another. … There’s only so much I can say.”

Yet, the St. Pete Times still tried to get more information out of Borris. They asked him if he will meet with them while he is in Tampa/St. Pete. Again, a thought provoking response when he said, “I can’t say.”

But while Borris does not give much for us to chew on the Rays situation, he did make sure to tell the media that Japan is an option if no American team takes an interest in Bonds.

The thought of Borris driving from training camp to training camp trying to sell Bonds to GMs is quite humorous in my mind. But that is what you are committed to do if you take a player like Bonds into your stable of clients.