Last Wednesday, Milwaukee Brewers reliever Francisco Rodriguez and his former agency Wasserman Media Group agreed to a settlement (reportedly over $2 million) that dismissed a pending lawsuit, which included claims of malpractice and fraud by baseball agents Arn Tellem and Paul Kinzer.
Rodriguez switched from Wasserman to Scott Boras over a year ago. Just prior to Rodriguez making the switch, but after the writing was already on the wall, Kinzer said, “It’s a sad part of the business. I’m not out trying to take everybody else’s players. I sign new players, but when I do, usually my players bring them to me. I don’t attack them whenever they come into L.A.”
Then came word that when Rodriguez was a Wasserman client, his agents failed to submit his no-trade list to the New York Mets prior to his trade to the Milwaukee Brewers. Importantly, Rodriguez seemed to be under the impression that the list was provided to the Mets and that the Brewers were a team on that list. It was alleged that Wasserman lied to Rodriguez four times about giving the no-trade list to the Mets, when in fact, no list was ever delivered.
Baseball agent Paul Kinzer was fired in the beginning of October. Last week, Paul Kinzer said the following to SportsBusiness Daily: “Wasserman now has attempted to use me as a scapegoat for their actions, something I will not tolerate and which will be addressed in the proper forum. I’m now ready for a new era in my career.”
