Generally speaking, it isn't a huge deal when players switch agents. It happens a lot. One agent switch this week, however, is raising eyebrows. Astros third baseman Alex Bregman is reportedly leaving his agency, one that has ties to LeBron James. According to one report, Bregman is making the change because James is producing a documentary about the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.
The Houston Chronicle has more:
Bregman and his agent, Brodie Scoffield, have parted ways, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Chronicle on Tuesday.
Scoffield formerly ran Tidal Sports Group. Klutch Sports Group acquired the agency in April to be its baseball wing, briefly putting Bregman under the same umbrella as basketball superstar LeBron James. James' agent Rich Paul founded Klutch Sports Group. Scoffield negotiated the six-year, $100 million extension Bregman signed in February 2019.
So Bregman was briefly tied to LeBron through Klutch Sports and Scoffield. Also tied to LeBron is Uninterrupted Sports, James' media company, which as noted is putting together a documentary series about the sign-stealing controversy that immersed the baseball world this past offseason.
The series -- per Variety -- says it will "transcend the baseball diamond to explore larger themes of greed, cheating, corruption, sportsmanship, and social media activism." It was announced Uninterrupted was picking up the series last week.
Speaking of which, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes:
The involvement of James' media platform Uninterrupted in a new docuseries on the Astros' sign-stealing scandal was perhaps not the only reason Bregman left Brodie Scoffield, whose company last month became the baseball arm of James' agency, Klutch Sports. But the sources said it was an overriding factor -- at the very least, the last straw.
The 2020 season is up in the air right now, but past that, Bregman is set to make $13 million in both 2021 and 2022 before the salary skyrockets to $30.5 million for 2023 and 2024. He's set to hit free agency after the 2024 season. In the meantime, some agent is about to add a prolific new client, though the new agent won't make money off Bregman's current deal.
