Managers and Agents

I didn’t realize that player agents communicate with field managers. Here’s Jeff Banister on that relationship:

One thing I’ll tell you, being the manager of a team, that relationship with a player needs to stay one direction and that’s about playing the game of baseball. It is a relationship and a growing relationship. It’s not a contract relationship. That’s why you have a front office and a general manager and that’s why agents communicate with them. But there are a number of agents out there that I do talk to and there is an open line of communication with me about their players just because if there’s something going on that a player wants to talk to his agent about and they communicate that to me then I’m okay with that.”

That makes sense. An agent helps smooth out communications. A player might go an agent and rant and rave about a problem. The agent goes to the manager or the GM and explains the problem in a constructive way. Likewise, the manager or GM might rant and rave to the agent about the player, and the agent presents the problems to the player in a more positive light. This is why players and teams avoid arbitration hearings. The team talks the player down in front of the player, which is not pleasant for either side.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2gRJfn9