← Most Valuable Agent with Matt Hannaford
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All right, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Most Valuable Agent Podcast. Today is a solo episode, and I want to bring you a different episode today. Today, I want to tell you a story, but I also want to give you a warning. The story that I'm about to tell you, it exposes something that most families unfortunately never get to see. And it reinforces why I've said time and time again that the most dangerous part of the agent business actually isn't the stuff that you guys do get to see. It's the stuff that you unfortunately don't. Now, I oftentimes when I talk to people who maybe are less familiar with the agent business, I use an analogy of an iceberg. Okay? So I want you to envision that you're sitting in a boat and you see an iceberg. What you see that's above the water, the polished part of the iceberg. These are the things like the services that agents offer, the great deals they've negotiated, the high profile names. Right? You see my point? It's. It's everything that an agency would want you to know about them and see, but it's what's beneath the surface, the part that you don't have the luxury of seeing that actually should raise concern. Right? These are things like the agency's incentives, the motivations of the agency, their motives, the quiet loyalties to the agency's interests over the players interests that they represent. And that, unfortunately, is where trust is tested. And too often, that's where it's lost. And the story that I want to share with you today is a real life illustration of this exact problem. So here's what happened. So, In March of 2020, right in the heart of the COVID shutdowns, MLB and the players association were locked in some pretty tense negotiations. And I know that obviously if you guys were around during COVID you remember everybody was stressed out, nobody knew what was going to happen, and, you know, people didn't want to miss work. And unfortunately a lot of people did. The topic of conversation in these meetings was between MLB and the union were over things like player compensation for that year, season structure, health protocols, right? So these weren't just normal business things. This was about the livelihood of every player in the game and really every. Every individual that was in the game. And so right in the middle of all of this, according to a recent decision by the nlbpa, there was a certified agent with a pretty extensive history at, you know, working at predominant agencies. He actually had a somewhat meaningful role in co representing some high Profile clients. He reportedly acted as an informant for the commissioner of Major League Baseball and I should say his senior officials, most senior officials. Now, the union described this agent as sharing sensitive information and assisting in strategies that undermine the player's bargaining positions. Now, you're probably hearing that and thinking what I did when I first heard it, like, there's no way this can't be true. But unfortunately, this isn't just a rumor. Okay? Evidence was presented in a 71 page disciplinary letter and a five page memo to player leadership, which included text messages, emails where the agent advised against conceding to union proposals. Okay, so in one instance, this agent, he urged Rob Manford, the commissioner, not to give in on language regarding October games stating that the deal could be completed without it. In another exchange that he had with a different MLB official, the agent expressed frustration with the players. Right? The agent expressed frustration with the players. He texted f the players. He texted f the players. And he emphasized the need to instead direct their anger towards union leadership. He. He put in a text, let Tony hang himself. Now, he was referring to the head of the union, Tony Clark. And the agent was actually responding to an MLB official who was looking for response to Tony Clark saying players should be paid 100% in empty ballparks. I mean, Tony is doing his job, working and advocating on behalf of the players. And. And this agent is going behind the back of the head of the union saying, let Tony hang himself. It's beyond me. This agent also suggested media leaks to sympathetic reporters and provided draft proposals to aid the league's efforts in reducing player pay. Amid the crisis, he put in a text to the commissioner, please do not give in. Now, it's no surprise, after I gave you all of that information, it's no surprise that this agent in question didn't fess up or own up to the behavior. Instead, through his lawyer, he tried to paint himself as a victim. His attorney was even quoted as saying, you know, the agent was not banned by the mlbpa. Rather, he voluntarily agreed to a resolution that permits him to continue to provide certain services to current and future players, all the while taking a step back from player contracts for a period of time. Even so, if you take that for what it's worth, you're probably as surprised to hear all of this as I was to read it. But here's the thing, and this is the whole point of this episode and really what I want to talk to you about this type of behavior, maybe this exact example is kind of wild, right? It hasn't been made public before quite like this. But unfortunately, this type of behavior, it's not new. This type of behavior by agents, it doesn't surprise me. And here's why I'm telling you this story. In a recent episode that I did, I discussed three factors that make an agent good. And in that episode, I said the very first factor, the place where all of the goodness starts, is moral integrity. And without it, nothing else matters. And this is exactly what I meant. You can be sharp, you can be connected. You can even have a long client list. But if you, as an agent, if you're willing to undermine your own players to gain favor with the league, if you're putting your agency's politics, your relationships or your ambition ahead of the people you're supposed to protect, then you have failed to the one thing that your job exists for, which is to act in the best interest of your client. It's easy for parents and players. When you guys meet agents for the very first time and you assume, oh, this person's with a big firm, they must be trustworthy. But what this story reminds us is visibility isn't virtue. What happens behind closed doors, what you don't see, unfortunately, it can hurt your son more than anything that you do. And that's why this story matters. This isn't just a scandal. This is a signal to you. It's a signal that there is still a lack of moral accountability in the agent world. It's a reminder that not every agent is built for this kind of responsibility. And it's a call for families to look deeper, to stop measuring success by all of the glitz and the glamour, the flash and all the Hollywood stuff, and to start asking real questions. Do I trust this person with my son's future even when I am not in the room? And that is the question that defines whether someone is good or not. That's the question that we all should be asking more often. Because a good agent doesn't just negotiate contracts. A good agent safeguards trust. And the trust that I'm talking about, the real trust, it can only be earned by putting the player first. Not once. Every time. Even when nobody's watching. Thanks for joining me today.