MLBPA Is Curbing Unfair Practices So Agents Will Open Books

Glavine States Concerns Over Agents

In an effort to "cut down on client-stealing and other aggressive practices," the MLBPA wants agents to "open their books and submit to stricter reporting of fees," according to Jerry Crasnick of BLOOMBERG NEWS. MLBPA Associate General Counsel Gene Orza said that the union is "taking a more hands-on approach as it fields more complaints from agents" about competition for clients. In a January 13 letter to the nearly 330 certified agents, the union said that it will conduct "regular, random financial audits of agents' receipts and expenses" beginning March 1. The union will also enforce rules requiring agents to "explain their fees in detail." While agents typically charge 3-5% commissions on negotiated player contracts, fee disclosures "might help the union determine when agents make exceptions in the competition for clients." In the letter, the MLBPA said that it will "suspend the certification of agents who don't provide the required information on fees." NL player rep Tom Glavine: "There seems to be some concern with how agents are getting players — by promising things they can't deliver or shouldn't be promising" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 2/6). Orza said the issue of unfair client recruiting received "considerable attention" at the exec board meeting last December (N.Y. TIMES, 2/7).

BURDEN OF PROOF: SI's Tom Verducci writes that despite talk of collusion, MLB owners, "so often criticized for profligate spending, are showing the restraint and the smarts to flood the market with mid-level players." For the union "to prove its case, it will need a paper trail. The owners couldn't be that reckless, could they?" (SI, 2/10).