Brodie Van Wagenen

Brodie Van Wagenen (born March 9, 1974) is a sports agent and a co-head of the baseball division at CAA Sports.[1]

CAA Sports is a division of Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency, and represents more than 800 of the world's best athletes in baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf, in addition to icons in individual sports, Olympians, coaches, broadcasters, and other sports personalities.[2]

Background

Van Wagenen grew up in Southern California, where he attended Crespi Carmelite High School before receiving a baseball scholarship to Stanford University. He was the starting right fielder for Stanford in 1993 and 1994 [3] and graduated with a degree in Communication in 1996.

Van Wagenen began his career in the sports industry working for the Chicago Bulls Championship team in 1996–1997. From 1999 to 2001, Van Wagenen served as Director of Business Development for digital sports pioneer Broadband Sports/Athlete Direct. Van Wagenen is a certified player agent with the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Sports agent

Van Wagenen is one of the co-heads of CAA Sports' Baseball division, along with Nez Balelo, Jeff Berry and Joe Urbon. In ranking CAA the world's most valuable sports agency, Forbes called CAA Sports "the undisputed king of the sports agency business."[4] Forbes also named Van Wagenen to its list of the Top 50 Most Powerful Agents in the World.[5]

In March 2012, Sports Business Journal named Van Wagenen to its "40 Under 40" list of "the best young talent in sports business."[6] [7] Van Wagenen is the only baseball agent to make the list since 2009.

In 2012, Van Wagenen was selected for a two-year post on the Major League Baseball Players Association Agent Advisory Committee. In 2014, he was asked to stay on for another term.

Prior to joining CAA, Van Wagenen served as Vice President of IMG Baseball (2001–2006).

Van Wagenen is based in New York City and, in addition to representing many of the best MLB players, he oversees the Contracts and Corporate Administration for the Baseball division. CAA Baseball has negotiated more than $2.5 billion in contracts, and its clients have combined for 116 All-Star selections and won 30 Silver Slugger Awards, 17 Gold Glove Trophies, eight Rookie of the Year Awards, six Cy Young Awards and five Most Valuable Player awards. CAA Sports has advised 49 First-Round draft selections since 2006 and has negotiated more than $150 million in amateur draft signing bonuses over that time.[8]

Over the past 10 years, CAA Baseball has negotiated 17 deals of $50 million or more (Buster Posey, Ryan Braun, Matt Cain, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Jones, Andre Ethier, Yoenis Céspedes, Rusney Castillo, John Danks, Mark Buehrle, Roy Halladay, Ryan Howard, Robinson Canó, Phil Hughes, Jason Bay and Matt Garza.) That includes seven contracts since 2010 worth $100 million or more (Howard, Cano, Posey, Braun, Cain, Cespedes and Zimmerman).[9]

Van Wagenen has been described as someone who "brings deep analytics and creativity to contract negotiations. To his clients, he brings something else. Even more than life-changing paydays, he offers them loyalty that extends beyond the field." Former Major League pitcher and current St. Louis Cardinals scouting director Randy Flores said of Van Wagenen, "We connected early, and one of the things that's special about Brodie is that everybody he talks to feels that same connection. I leave every conversation feeling an authenticity. It's not just about him. You can imagine the stable of clients he has and how busy he is, yet he takes time out to get face-time with a guy who won’t make him any money. He helped me form a framework for what was next in my life as I transitioned away from the uniform."[10] Said then-San Diego Padres assistant general manager A. J. Hinch, now manager of the Houston Astros, "Brodie has always been loyal. That goes back to how he was as a teammate, and now as a friend, a husband and father, and certainly how he represents his clients."[10]

For Cespedes, Van Wagenen negotiated a three-year, $75 million contract with the New York Mets that included an opt-out after the first season (2016). The $25 million average annual value of the deal matched the highest average annual value ever for an outfielder.[11] Cespedes was guaranteed $27.5 million if he opted out after the first season, which would be the second-highest AAV ever for a position player.[12] Cespedes was able to re-sign with the Mets only because Van Wagenen worked with the Mets in September 2015 to amend his existing contract and allow the Mets equal footing in free agency.[13]

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson called Van Wagenen one of the "MVPs of this transaction", saying, "I want to also thank Brodie Van Wagenen, who represented Yoenis and who kept us in the loop throughout the entire process. And I think that foresight ultimately led significantly to our ability to get a deal done."[14]

Cespedes opted out of his contract after the 2016 season and in November 2016 re-signed for $110 million over four years, setting records for annual average value ($27.5 million) records for an outfielder and any Mets player in franchise history and the second-highest AAV ever for a non-pitcher. In sum, it guaranteed Cespedes $137.6 million over five years with the Mets.[15]

Said Alderson, “I want to thank Brodie Van Wagenen and his team for his insight. And his straightforward communication, both on this occasion and last year, has been instrumental in maintaining this relationship going forward.”[16]

The contract also included a full no-trade clause. "Without the ability to secure his future here, he wouldn't have signed here," Van Wagenen said. "That was absolutely a deal point that had to be part of the contract."[17]

According to The New York Times, “Cespedes’s agents also presented the Mets with an advanced metric they developed that tried to measure how much Cespedes was worth to the team in terms of generating ticket, media, merchandise and sponsorship revenue. ‘We knew he wanted to be back here, and as long as we were having dialogue with Brodie, we felt good about getting something done,’ [Mets COO Jeff] Wilpon said.”[18]

In April 2013, as part of a joint venture between CAA and Roc Nation, Van Wagenen became the baseball agent for Cano, the then-New York Yankees All-Star second baseman. According to ESPN New York, "CAA is an experienced baseball group, so Cano will have an agent who knows what he is doing in Brodie Van Wagenen."[19]

Asked about Cano's choice of Van Wagenen, Zimmerman said, "I’ve known Brodie for almost 10 years now. Brodie has always taken care of me and my family, just like he said he would. It's hard to find that sometimes."[20]

In December 2013, Cano signed a $240 million, 10-year contract with the Seattle Mariners.[21] The deal made Cano just the fifth player to sign a contract for $200 million or more with only Alex Rodriguez ever signing a contract worth more in guaranteed salary. Cano's contract more than doubled the previous record guarantee for a second baseman,[22] was the largest contract ever for a player who had not had a 35-homer season and was just the fifth 10-year contract of the past decade.[23]

Cano's $240 million contract was $65 million more than the Yankees offered[24] and more than pundits had predicted: $200 million (New York Post)[25] and $210 million (CBS Sports).[26] Wrote Heyman, "Van Wagenen will need to pull one out of his bag of tricks to hit the magic $200 million mark."[27] Tweeted ESPN analyst and former Washington Nationals general manager Jim Bowden, "Make no doubt about it…the Jay-Z – Brodie Van Wagenen duo was masterful landing $240 million from Seattle….$80 million more than NYY #CAA."[28]

According to Sports Illustrated, "Cano's management team gave three presentations to the Mariners. First, third-party perspectives: headlines and news articles, compliments, awards. That document ran 600 pages. It took six CAA employees to compile. Second, Cano's statistics placed in historical context. That ran 80 pages. Third, something called a 'consumer insights report,' a survey done by a research group to see how random people viewed Cano ... CAA argued that 10 equal installments of $24 million represented a bargain. Their presentation suggested that the Mariners would realize $200 million-plus in value from Cano—including value beyond his production on the field, in advertising and marketing and ticket sales, in luring free agents, in mentoring young players—years before season 10. That's why the Mariners needed the same player—but a different, more demonstrative guy."[29]

In 2016, Van Wagenen became the baseball agent for former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow as Tebow made the transition from football to baseball. [30] Van Wagenen and CAA invited teams to a showcase in Los Angeles on Aug. 30, 2016, in which 46 scouts watched Tebow go through baseball drills. [31] Nine days later, the Mets signed Tebow to a $100,000 contract.

Wrote Newsday, “This might be a good time to bring up that Tebow’s agent happens to be CAA’s Brodie Van Wagenen, who also represents Yoenis Cespedes, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom. The Mets don’t have any pressing business with the two pitchers yet, but you may have heard that Cespedes has an opt-out after this season, and his market value seems to increase after every game. Giving Tebow a chance, on one of the bigger media stages, certainly wouldn’t put Cespedes in the Mets’ back pocket for 2017. But it could make the relationship between Van Wagenen and the Mets’ front office a little chummier for the future, which definitely wouldn’t hurt the negotiating process.” [32]

Said Alderson, “Brodie represents a number of players on our team, but in the course of our conversations regarding Tim, none of those players were mentioned. None were in mind. I think Brodie is professional enough to keep all of those things separate. He certainly demonstrated that over the time that I’ve known him.” [33]

Bowden called Van Wagenen "one of the most respected baseball agents in the industry."[34] Bowden, writing for ESPN.com, described Van Wagenen as "Stanford grad who is known for his analytics, creativity and presentation skills which are considered the best in the business. His people skills are off the charts and he can be as convincing as he is genuine."[35]

In August 2014, Van Wagenen negotiated a $72.5 million contract for Castillo with the Boston Red Sox, the largest contract ever for a player of Cuban descent.[36] It was also the record for any amateur player and any international free agent.[37] According to WEEI.com, "Instead of defining Castillo's value relative to that of other players from Cuba, the agent used past free agents with comparable skill sets to define what kind of financial guarantee Castillo might deserve."[38]

Van Wagenen negotiated a three-year, $23 million deal for shortstop Jed Lowrie with the Astros in December 2014.[39][40] CBS Sports rated that as one of the top "winners" of the 2014-15 offseason, saying Lowrie and Van Wagenen, "leveraged the lack of viable shortstops into a $23-million three-year deal."[41]

In February 2012, the Nationals signed Zimmerman to a contract extension that guaranteed him $126 million over eight years.[42]

Later during the 2012 season, Van Wagenen negotiated a three-year, $27 million contract extension for Carlos Quentin with the San Diego Padres, which included a full no-trade clause.[43]

Zimmerman was the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft, and then-Nationals general manager Bowden later wrote that "The shrewd business decision by Zimmerman, as advised by CAA, to sign immediately, and not wait to maximize his potential bonus at the Aug. 15 deadline, paid off."[34]

In 2009, Van Wagenen negotiated a five-year, $45 million contract for Zimmerman with the Nationals.[44]

Since 2002, Van Wagenen has been advising families through the MLB amateur draft process, personally working with 18 first-round selections. In 2011, Van Wagenen negotiated a five-year major-league contract with the Seattle Mariners for draft pick Danny Hultzen, and the guaranteed value of $8.5 million was the largest of the 2011 draft and fifth-highest all-time.[45] It was the third time Van Wagenen secured the largest compensation package of the draft for a college pitcher.

Personal

Van Wagenen and his wife Molly, also a graduate and former athlete at Stanford University, have three children. Van Wagenen's father-in-law was the late astronaut Neil Armstrong.[10] Van Wagenen's father, Jeff Van Wagenen, played professional golf on the European Seniors Tour (1999–2008).[46] Van Wagenen served on the Board of Directors for Stanford University's Buck/Cardinal Club from 1998–2004. His wife, Molly, currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Stanford University Athletic Department.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2011/02/Feb-23/Labor-and-Agents/Close.aspx, Sports Business Daily
  2. ↑ http://www.sports.caa.com/, CAA Sports official web site
  3. ↑ http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/stan/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/letterwinners.pdf, list of Stanford lettermen
  4. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbelzer/2015/09/23/the-worlds-most-valuable-sports-agencies-2015/
  5. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sports-agents/list/#tab:overall
  6. ↑ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/03/12/Forty-Under-40/Introduction.aspx
  7. ↑ http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/03/12/Forty-Under-40/Brodie-Van-Wagenen.aspx
  8. ↑ http://sports.caa.com/baseball.aspx
  9. ↑ http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2013/04/02/cano-leaves-boras-joins-jay-z/
  10. 1 2 3 http://www.newcanaandarienmag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=13448&url=%2Fn%2FJanuary-February-2014%2FTop-of-His-Game%2F&mode=print
  11. ↑ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14629430/yoenis-cespedes-agrees-deal-new-york-mets
  12. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/yoenis-cespedes-undergo-physical-week-article-1.2509236
  13. ↑ http://nypost.com/2015/09/08/mets-remove-a-huge-obstacle-in-re-signing-yoenis-cespedes/
  14. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/metsblog/yoenis-cespedes-press-conference-23
  15. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/yoenis-cespedes-returning-mets-season-article-1.2891534
  16. ↑ https://www.sny.tv/video/1214347483/alderson-on-cespedes-signing
  17. ↑ http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18175398/yoenis-cespedes-no-trade-clause-new-york-mets-was-key-agent-says
  18. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/sports/baseball/yoenis-cespedes-new-york-mets.html
  19. ↑ http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/yankees/post/_/id/51780/reaction-cano-leaves-boras-for-jay-z
  20. ↑ http://therocket.mlblogs.com/2013/04/03/nats-zimmerman-intrigued-by-cano-jay-z-van-wagenen/
  21. ↑ http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10125503/robinson-cano-seattle-mariners-finalize-huge-contract
  22. ↑ https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/statuses/411191107347681280
  23. ↑ http://seattletimes.com/html/larrystone/2022452468_stone13xml.html
  24. ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/12/12/robinson-cano-and-mariners-finalize-huge-contract/4000471/
  25. ↑ http://nypost.com/2013/11/05/predicted-destinations-for-mlbs-top-30-free-agents/
  26. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/24191882/free-agent-rankings-no-1-cano-to-65-market-stronger-than-some-think
  27. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/23365656/top-50-mlb-free-agents-expect-drama-when-it-comes-to-signing-cano
  28. ↑ https://twitter.com/jimbowden_espn/status/409031289824505856?refsrc=email
  29. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1210055/2/index.htm
  30. ↑ http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1657d12423574078ade4d7228b9bf743/te-ball-tebow-will-try-play-professional-baseball
  31. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/tim-tebow-finally-showcase-mlb-scouts-article-1.2772078
  32. ↑ http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/david-lennon/tim-tebow-mets-both-are-in-a-no-lose-situation-1.12289523
  33. ↑ https://soundcloud.com/metsblog/tim-tebow-conference-call-with-sandy-alderson
  34. 1 2 http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-office/post?id=1190, ESPN.com, "Lessons from the signing deadline"
  35. ↑ http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/the-gms-office/post?id=1460, Scouting the agents of the free agents
  36. ↑ http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/11392841/boston-red-sox-add-cuban-rusney-castillo
  37. ↑ http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/08/22/red-sox-make-bold-move-with-signing-rusney-castillo/O5wtXHDgFdrwabOPGQFGJL/story.html
  38. ↑ http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/08/23/agent-brodie-van-wagenen-interest-in-rusney-castillo-really-extraordinary/
  39. ↑ http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-give-infielder-Lowrie-3-year-deal-5959165.php#/0
  40. ↑ http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/article/Astros-targeted-Jed-Lowrie-from-the-start-5961496.php#/0
  41. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-heyman/25003344/mlb-winter-winners-and-losers-all-is-well-in-chicago
  42. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/ryan-zimmerman-agrees-to-six-year-100-million-contract-extension-with-the-washington-nationals/2012/02/26/gIQAK2bfcR_story.html, Washington Post, Ryan Zimmerman agrees to six-year, $100 million contract extension with the Washington Nationals"
  43. ↑ http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120722&content_id=35361638&vkey=news_sd&c_id=sd
  44. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042003298.html/, Washington Post, "Ryan Zimmerman's New Deal With the Nationals Was Years in the Making"
  45. ↑ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2015920323_maridraft16.html, Seattle Times, "Mariners sign first-round pick Danny Hultzen"
  46. ↑ http://www.europeantour.com/seniortour/players/playerid=3551/index.html, European Seniors Tour player bio, Jeff Van Wagenen.

External links

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