NBCSPORTS.com reported Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez, under his new seven-year, $154M contract announced on Friday, "can block a trade to two teams and he cannot be subsequently traded to the Yankees if dealt prior to someone else." This apparently is a "new requirement the Red Sox are putting into all of their big deals, as it's the same stipulation Carl Crawford has in his contract" (NBCSPORTS.com, 4/15). Gonzalez's new contract is the "richest awarded" under the current ownership group led by John Henry and Tom Werner (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/16).
WHAT ABOUT BOB? Warriors co-Owner Joe Lacob on Friday "went out of his way to say" that new Assistant GM Bob Myers "is expected to eventually be the GM." Myers joins the Warriors after serving as an NBA agent for Wasserman Media Group, and Lacob said, "We're very strong in talent evaluation and you could argue that what we probably don’t have strength in is experience in negotiating contracts. ... We wanted to strengthen that part of the business" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 4/15). In Boston, Gary Washburn wrote Myers' hiring "is a coup" for the Warriors, because Myers was "considered one of the bright young minds in the sports agent game" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/17). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami wrote the positive response to Myers' hiring "reflects the relief power-agents feel that they finally have somebody to talk to in the Warriors front office" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 4/15).
SPORTING A NEW LOOK: SI.com's Steve Davis wrote there "may not be a stronger embodiment of local, committed, innovative ownership" in MLS than Sporting KC's OnGoal LLC. There is a "lot to like about a completely organic ownership outfit" like Sporting KC's, "created and run by five wealthy, local businessmen with the singular aim of building a Major League Soccer power." OnGoal, led by Robb Heineman, Cliff Illig and Neal Patterson, has been "steadily sprucing up the organization" since buying it in '06, and the club's rebranding from the K.C. Wizards before this season "was the lead element in efforts to be more than a soccer team" (SI.com, 4/15).
ONLY A MATTER OF TIME: Nets Chair Christophe Charlier, in an interview for the Russian edition of GQ magazine, said that team Owner Mikhail Prokhorov "expects the Nets to be the NBA's most profitable once the team moves into Barclays Center," expected to be before the '12-13 season. Charlier said, "Brooklyn is going to change everything for the team. Fantastic real estate. Incredible location. Seven minutes by subway from the Wall Street. The very fact of moving (to Brooklyn) would make the Nets the most profitable team in the league" (NETSDAILY.com, 4/16).
