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December Baseball

Would you rather be negotiating deals or enjoying the sun and the scenery?
Would you rather be negotiating deals or enjoying the sun and the scenery?

While there is no baseball actually played in the month of December, the GMs and agents sure have a grand old time trying to do best for those that they represent.  General Managers have the duty of finding the right pieces to the puzzle that will make their teams successful at the lowest price possible.  Agents try to squeeze the teams out of that stance to have their clients get what they believe to be a proper valuation.  In the end some deals get struck and many go on wondering what the future will hold.  With the Winter Meetings and the Rule 5 Draft behind us, the baseball landscape is much more clear than it was in November, but is still much work to be done.

Dominic Perilli has done an excellent job highlighting some of the more popular signings during the Winter Meetings period.  But you did not need this site to take you far into the depths of the wheeling and dealing between popular agents, their more popular clients, and the all important General Managers.  More than one-thousand media credentials were handed out to press members at the Winter Meetings.  If you wanted to know what Scott Boras was eating for breakfast, I am sure some newspaper was covering it.  $45 sandwiches aside, a lot of moves were made.

And while the media was sensationalizing the Winter Meetings (even after they had commenced), a little thing called the Rule 5 Draft occurred.  If you are lucky enough to be selected in the Rule 5 Draft, you must be added to your new team’s 40-man roster.  This year, a whopping twenty-one players were taken in the Major League portion of the draft (first and second round) and only one guy was grabbed in the Double-A section (Andrew Barb to the Orioles).  The Nationals organization, which has two strong Dynasty clients in Dan Leatherman and Kyle Gunderson, had two right hand pitchers scooped up by other teams in the Triple A phase: Luis Ortega and Josh Perrault.  They added one, Terrell Young, in the Major League phase.  This, along with other moves made by the club in the past year (dealing pitchers for position players), will hopefully open up opportunities for our boys to rise up the ranks in the coming year.

By Darren Heitner

Darren Adam Heitner, Esq., is a preeminent sports attorney and the founder of Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., a Fort Lauderdale-based law firm specializing in sports law, contract negotiations, intellectual property, and arbitration. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2010 and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida in 2007, where he was named Valedictorian of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Admitted to practice in the state bars of Florida, New York, and the District of Columbia, as well as multiple federal courts, Darren also serves as a certified arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association.

As an adjunct professor, Darren imparts his expertise through teaching Sports Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) at the University of Miami School of Law in the Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law LL.M. program. His scholarly contributions include authoring several books published by the American Bar Association, such as How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, and numerous articles in prominent publications like Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and Above the Law. His thought leadership in NIL has earned him recognition as one of the foremost experts by The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and On3, and he has been lauded as a “power player in NIL deals” by Action Network and a “top sports trademark attorney” by Sportico.

Darren’s passion for sports law led him to establish Sports Agent Blog on December 31, 2005, initially titled “I Want To Be A Sports Agent.” The platform, created as a New Year’s resolution, has grown into a cornerstone of the sports agency community, offering in-depth analysis of industry trends, legal disputes, and agent-player dynamics. His commitment to the field is further evidenced by his representation of numerous athletes and sports agents, as well as his prior role as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington, where he developed and taught a course on Sport Agency Management from 2011 to 2014.

Darren’s contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the University of Florida’s 40 Under 40 Award, the University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, and designation as the best lawyer in Fort Lauderdale by Fort Lauderdale Magazine. He remains an active voice in the sports law community, sharing insights through his weekly NIL newsletter and his X posts, engaging a broad audience on legal developments in sports.

4 replies on “December Baseball”

Just curious, at what level are you clients pitching? Do they stand to benefit from the spots opened up by the selections of Ortega and Perrault in the Rule 5 draft?

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