Freddie Freeman is unhappy with his agents.
Or at least, that’s the assumption.
In the wake of a tearful return to Atlanta, Freeman’s listing on the MLBPA database switched from “Excel Sports” to “self-represented.” Freeman’s own statement on the matter didn’t say that he was leaving Excel, but the message is clear: the former face of the Atlanta franchise is mad.
The backstory here is that after spending his whole career with Atlanta, Freeman and the front office were unable to reach a deal in the lockout-narrowed offseason. In March, after signing with the Dodgers, Freeman memorably had a three-hour phone conversation with Alex Anthopoulos, Atlanta President of Baseball Ops. This was on the heels on Anthopolous’s own teary press conference following the acquisition of Freeman’s replacement, Matt Olson. Yesterday, when asked about the agency change, Freeman referenced how he’s “learned a lot” about how things went down through talking to “the other side.”
The interpretation here is that Freeman wanted to stay with Atlanta, and Atlanta wanted to retain Freeman, and Freeman’s agents failed to make that happen. The interpretation is that Freeman and his agents were not aligned, or that his agents acted against his wishes.
There’s a complicated thing with professional sports agency, and it has to do with diverging incentives. The agent’s job is to represent the player. The agent’s incentives are centered on keeping their players satisfied, and on drawing new players to their services. The player’s incentives are centered on being happy. The simple way for this to work itself out is for the agent to secure the largest contract possible for their player. The maximum salary/signing bonus combination. Almost all of us want more money, after all. But there’s the cliché, too: Does money buy happiness?
In Freeman’s case, it seems a pay cut would have gladly been taken relative to what Los Angeles is paying him. It seems the happiness of playing in Atlanta would have outweighed whatever Freeman now believes the difference in contract quality really was. His agents didn’t act in accordance with this wish. They didn’t keep their player satisfied. Now, they’re quite possibly getting fired.
At this level, the diverging incentives aren’t clear. This would point to the same incentives. But here’s where it gets tricky.
Agents have a lot of control over players, especially in their younger days. They are handlers of young men and women, knowledgeable figures within the industry there to help these players navigate the ins and outs of their new, loud, day-to-day life. They have a lot of control over what players hear, what players believe, what players think is normal. Even Freeman, the face of the reigning World Series champions and an established veteran within Major League Baseball, evidently didn’t have all the information about his own contract negotiations. Agents can shape what players want. Agents can shape what players want to align with agents’ own incentives, which often tie back to simple magnitude of contracts, a single variable on which the greatest agents in the business, people like Scott Boras, have made their careers. It was presumably a great sales pitch for Excel Sports to say, “Hey, Freddie Freeman uses us.” It presumably would have been a better one if they could also say, “We got Freddie Freeman more money this year than even Mookie Betts is making.” Excel tried to thread the needle. It tried to have it both ways. There’s egg on their face now, but was there not, we never would have heard of it. Had they not gotten caught by their own client, they’d be having their cake and eating it too.
I don’t mean to vilify agents with this. I assume most agents do not try to thread the needle. I also would be unsurprised if highly competitive professional athletes often say, “Hey, just get me the most money.” But with players making money at a rate where a few million dollars will make little actual impact on their quality of life, I wonder if some of these agent incentives are discounting the value of players’ emotions. And yes, this all ties back to my suspicion that Boras screwed over Kris Bryant by not working on a long-term extension early in his time in Chicago, though to be fair, the Rockies ended up breaking the bank for Bryant and I’m not sure what exactly the Cubs would have offered, even in 2017.
Stu Gets Sued
Not our Stu. Not yet.
In other baseball news, Rays minority owners making up about 9.6% of the ownership group have filed their third lawsuit against Rays lead owner Stu Sternberg. It’s all financial stuff—Sternberg trying to pocket more cash, allegedly. Nothing too juicy.
Elsewhere:
- No new suspensions from the Angels/Mariners fight, but it turns out Archie Bradley broke his elbow falling as he tried to exit the dugout and enter the fray. He’ll be shut down completely for four weeks.
- Zach Davies is going on the IL with shoulder inflammation. He’s been having a solid bounceback year for the Diamondbacks, with his lowest xERA since 2016. His status for the trade deadline (his contract is expiring and Arizona will not make the playoffs) is now uncertain.
- Austin Meadows is going from the Covid IL to the physical IL with strains in both his Achilles. The Tigers/Rays trade seemed so innocuous at the time. Now, Isaac Paredes is raking, the Rays have an extra draft pick, and the Tigers are presumably rather shell-shocked.
- The Phillies have called up Darick Hall to help replace Bryce Harper. Hall isn’t a well-touted prospect, but he’s 26 years old and he’s been hitting 32% better than the average AAA hitter.
- Lastly, in Cubs news, Jonathan Villar cleared waivers and will be released, while Seiya Suzuki is heading out on a rehab assignment. Great news that Suzuki’s finally approaching a return. Bummer of an ending to what had seemed a savvy signing with Villar.
On the field yesterday:
- In the NL West, the Dodgers lost their second straight to the Rockies while the Padres blew a 6-0 lead late in Arizona. The Giants did take advantage, holding off the Tigers to gain a game.
- Matt Olson homered twice for Atlanta in their win over the Phillies. The least-wanted man in Georgia continues to do his job well. Meanwhile, the Astros walloped the Mets, 9-1.
- The Brewers beat the Rays, getting ten strikeouts from Brandon Woodruff to go with no walks in just five innings. The Cardinals kept pace, beating Miami 5-3.
- The Twins and Guardians split a doubleheader before the White Sox beat the Angels. That spread is currently at six games between Minnesota and Chicago, with Cleveland dead in the middle.
- The Blue Jays beat the Red Sox, 6-5, rallying in the bottom of the ninth against fill-in closers while Tanner Houck remained in Boston, not allowed to play in Canada due to his vaccination status. At the top of the division, the Yankees won.
On the Cubs side, it was a tough loss, but Keegan Thompson looked good and the offense battled back, even if it wasn’t exactly a great offensive night. Justin Steele squares off with Hunter Greene this evening.
LIU: Back?
Long Island University, once called a “sleeping NIT giant” on the pages of this very website, is trying something new. The NEC lightweight has fired head coach Derek Kellogg, opting to hire G League Ignite program manager Rod Strickland in his place.
It’s weird timing, which makes the question whether the firing or the hiring was the point, but regardless of the motivation, LIU’s going to try things with a guy who’s been fairly deeply involved in the college/pro basketball recruiting “revolution.” Not a stranger to the college game, Strickland assisted John Calipari at Kentucky for five or six years a while back, but the G League Ignite thing is what’s interesting, because it makes one ask whether there’s something unique LIU think he’ll bring to the recruiting table. More likely than not, we will never think of this man again. Sorry, LIU fans.
Big 12: Meet Brett Yormark
In a very similar move, minus the odd timing, the Big 12 is hiring a new commissioner: Brett Yormark, COO of Roc Nation (if you aren’t 100% sure what Roc Nation is, I also needed a refresher: It’s “an entertainment agency founded by…Jay-Z,” per The Athletic). Yormark isn’t a stranger to sports: He’s worked for both the Nets and NASCAR. The reports say that the Big 12 was impressed by what they’re calling “big ideas,” which could go great or could go terribly.
Does the Big 12 need big ideas? You could argue either way. On one hand, they will really miss Texas and Oklahoma, and as much as I love Iowa State, we aren’t enough to anchor a high-major league if the Power Five starts stratifying. Slippage into mid-majordom is a legitimate concern. On the other hand, though, it feels like the narrative underestimates BYU, probably because those who control the narrative don’t have a whole lot of Mormon friends.
There’s a reason Utah is the fastest growing state. There’s a reason Utah’s the youngest state. That reason is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon adults have an average of 3.4 children. The national average is 2.1 (as of the time of that survey). The brand is growing, and it’s already powerful. Would you rather hitch your wagon to Texas? Yes. It’s much lower-risk. We don’t really know what the demographics with BYU will mean, or how quickly they could change anything. But we do know that BYU’s a powerful, unusual school. The Big 12 might be getting the Notre Dame of the 21st century. With three times the enrollment.
Anyway, maybe making BYU the focal point is one of Yormark’s big ideas. The immediate assumption is that his ideas are on the NBA-vibed side of things, but the man did work for NASCAR, and I would imagine you learn a lot working for NASCAR at a high level right now.
So, for the Iowa State fans in the room, I think I’m landing on a position of cautious excitement, for whatever that’s worth to you. Is it high-risk? Yeah, a little bit. But Iowa State can hedge against that by continuing to work on its Big Ten application.
The ACC’s Got a Brand New Schedule
The ACC will ditch divisions and start a new football schedule beginning with the 2023 season, and I believe this might be our most concretely defined new Power Five schedule? Please let me know if I’ve missed one elsewhere.
The way the schedule will work is that every team will play its “primary opponents” annually, then alternate seasons with the other ten teams in the league, traveling to every campus at least once every four years and playing every team once every two years. The primary opponents? They aren’t podded up. Syracuse is with Boston College, Florida State, and Pitt, but Boston College and Pitt are not with Florida State. The 21 annual matchups:
- Florida State vs. Miami
- Florida State vs. Clemson
- Florida State vs. Syracuse
- Clemson vs. NC State
- Clemson vs. Georgia Tech
- Miami vs. Boston College
- Miami vs. Louisville
- Louisville vs. Georgia Tech
- Louisville vs. Virginia
- Virginia vs. Virginia Tech
- Virginia vs. UNC
- UNC vs. NC State
- UNC vs. Duke
- NC State vs. Duke
- Duke vs. Wake Forest
- Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech
- Wake Forest vs. Virginia Tech
- Virginia Tech vs. Pitt
- Pitt vs. Boston College
- Pitt vs. Syracuse
- Boston College vs. Syracuse
They’ve leaned into rivalries, but they’ve severely cold-shouldered Wake Forest within the state of North Carolina, opting to make NC State play Clemson and UNC play Virginia instead. I don’t know Wake Forest well enough to know if this makes sense. They’ve also played up the old-ish Big East aspects, with Miami and Boston College paired.
Overall, it’s a little risky, because you’re making some of your best teams play annually, which could result in a roundabout shutout from a four-team playoff, but maybe the bet is that the power structure is going to be dominated by Clemson and Miami, and that regular season matchups for each with Florida State and for Miami with Louisville will provide some College Gameday opportunities as FSU tries to figure things out and Louisville’s recruiting soars.
Emoni Michigan University
Emoni Bates, who was once on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 15-year-old and is now a transfer from Memphis who couldn’t find a high-major destination, will transfer to EMU. It’s been a wild ride with Bates, and it continues, and you don’t want to find humor in what might really stink for someone very much still a kid, but it’s been a wild ride.
Basketball
Busy day in the NBA offseason. Highlights, from what I can tell:
- The Knicks salary-dumped Nerlens Noel to the Pistons as they clear space to sign Jalen Brunson.
- The Nuggets are trading Monte Morris and Will Barton to the Wizards, receiving Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith in return. Our guy Morris slots in as the primary point guard in D.C. as they continue to build around Bradley Beal, who declined his option today, setting up what the presumption seems to be will be a max deal.
- James Harden has opted out of his contract but plans to return to the 76ers. My impression is that by getting out of the contract, he becomes available for cheaper, and he’s at a point in his career where he needs to win.
- The Spurs are reportedly trading Dejounte Murray to the Hawks for three first-round picks and Danilo Gallinari.
Duclair, Fiala
Hockey news for today is:
- The Kings traded a prospect and a draft pick to the Wild for restricted free agent Kevin Fiala.
- Panthers’ forward Anthony Duclair tore his Achilles. Unclear what the details are there.
**
Viewing schedule today/tonight (in addition to Wimbledon), second screen rotation in italics:
- 12:10 PM EDT: Milwaukee @ Tampa Bay, Lauer vs. Beeks (MLB TV)
- 1:10 PM EDT: Houston @ New York (NL), Verlander vs. Walker (MLB TV)
- 4:10 PM EDT: Baltimore @ Seattle, Voth vs. Flexen (MLB TV)
- 7:05 PM EDT: Atlanta @ Philadelphia, Wright vs. Suárez (MLB TV)
- 7:07 PM EDT: Boston @ Toronto, Pivetta vs. Manoah (MLB TV)
- 7:10 PM EDT: Minnesota @ Cleveland, Bundy vs. Quantrill (MLB TV)
- 7:45 PM EDT: Miami @ St. Louis, Alcantara vs. Pallante (MLB TV)
- 8:05 PM EDT: Cincinnati @ Cubs, Greene vs. Steele (MLB TV/ESPN+)
- 9:38 PM EDT: Chicago (AL) @ Anaheim, Kopech vs. Ohtani (MLB TV)
