Longtime readers of IIATMS know my equally long-standing appreciation and friendship that I have for agent Matt Sosnick and his agency. It’s with no shame that I can say that if there is one person who helped (unwittingly, mind you) launch my site from a bitty blogspot destination, it’s Matt.

To refresh: I was bored on June 2, 2008, desperately searching for something to write about. So I quickly threw this on the screen. So thanks to a random posting about Josh Hamilton, a fortuitious coincidence with a John Heyman news and notes story an hour later, and a Google alert, I connected with Matt. That lead to interviews with him, his players and other sorts of things that I remain eternally grateful for, things he never needed to do but did anyway because that’s exactly the kind of guy he is. I’ve been very fortunate that this little writing outlet of mine has put me in contact with some truly great people. Matt is at the very front of the line. That interview with Matt gave me my first ever ESPN link. The rest, friends, is history.

Naturally, when my RSS reader refreshed and Tim Dierkes’ posting about why Jay Bruce chose his agent, I jumped, compelled to share it. Am I biased? Damn straight. Sue me.

Here’s my favorite portion, but please head over to MLBTR and read the whole thing yourself:

He made me feel like I was a priority. Matt was on the phone and made it an easy decision for me, and that was the true start of what I consider a great relationship both on and off the field. That showed how Matt is as a person. That means a lot to me. He takes a genuine interest in my family and really goes beyond the job description. That’s important to me, but it’s not important to some people and I completely respect that. I really value my relationship with Matt, and he’s also done a great job, so it works out. I definitely understand that if he didn’t do a great job for me and we were friends, it would be a little tougher to move on or even have that conversation. I consider him a friend, but he does an unbelievable job with contract negotiations.

“Neyer joined ESPN.com in 1996, and since then he’s written more words for this site than anybody.”

- Neyer’s ESPN.com bio

The news is finally out: Rob Neyer is ending his 15 year run at ESPN:

Today, I hand off this space to whoever’s next. I don’t know yet who is next, but I’m highly confident that this blog and the SweetSpot Network will soon be in excellent hands.

I’ve known about this move for about a week or so now and despite this, I am still a bit slackjawed. Like most of you, I began reading Rob daily back when he started with ESPN so many years ago. I’ve pretty much read everything he’s written. I, and others, haven’t always agreed with everything, but say this about the man: he’s fair and he’s thoughtful.

Rob was among the first, if not the first, to bring sports blogging into the mainstream. For that, we should all be grateful for his contributions to the MLB community. I know I am.

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It’s been a banner off-season for the Sosnick-Cobbe Sports representation firm. With two big extensions for some emerging stars in Jay Bruce and Ricky Nolasco and the (possible) extensions for Freddy Sanchez and Josh Willingham.  Agent Matt Sosnick was kind enough to take a few questions from me via email.

IIATMS: Jay Bruce is clearly one of MLB’s rising young stars. What’s your thoughts on him locking up a multi-year deal now when he could very easily earn a great deal more through the arbitration process and into free agency? Who leads this process, you or the player?

• Matt Sosnick: When a player has ability that merits a multi-year deal, we sit down with him to discuss the pros and cons. The nature of these deals is that the player almost always leaves some money on the table in exchange for the security of a guarantee. Jay is a pretty conservative guy, so in his case he was able to get a guaranteed deal for more than he could ever spend, while still being young enough (30) when the deal expires to obtain one or two more big contracts. Ultimately it is the player’s decision. Our role is to inform him of what he would make if he went year-to-year, what the risks are, and how much we can get him on a multi-year so that he can make an educated decision.

IIATMS: You and your firm have been proponents of these pre-free agency extenstions. Do you recommend this course for all of your players?

• MS: Our general philosophy is that if a player can get an early multi-year contract that guarantees him enough money to be set for life, he needs to at least consider it. Baseball careers can be cut short in the blink of an eye, and most players understand that. It’s not so much a matter of what we recommend as a matter of presenting the player with his various options and letting him make an informed decision.

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Good friend of IIATMS and all-around good guy Matt Sosnick joined another e-migo Clint at Diamond Hoggers for a chat. Have a listen here. Sosnick talks about why he picked baseball as a focus despite him being a football fan, alot about clients Jay Bruce, Dontrelle Willis, Josh Willingham, Ricky Nolasco, etc. Definitely worth a listen.

I remain eternally grateful for Matt’s contributions to this site via interviews with him and his clients. Behind the scenes, he’s been even better, unfailingly responding to requests for memorabilia for charitible fund raising activities or just general counsel about this great game.

There are few things that make me happier than watching good things happen to good people. This tops my list today:

When I started writing ShysterBall in the spring of 2007, the idea was to give myself a place to be where I could escape the stress and unpleasantness of my legal career, if only for the briefest of moments. As time went on, it began to consume more and more of my waking hours and, in all honesty, interfering pretty significantly with that legal career. No, I never dropped the ball on a case, but it has been a struggle. I mean really, how is someone supposed to prepare for an oral argument when Roger Clemens is testifying before Congress? I’d like to say that I eventually managed to find balance with all of this, but that would be a lie. My life hasn’t been in balance since at least 2006. Maybe earlier. Something has to be done. So I’m doing it:

I’m quitting the law. Starting November 30th I will be writing about baseball full time for NBC Sports.com.

It’s impossible for me to really capture how happy this makes me. But I’ll give it a try:

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For many (if not most) of you, this will be an introduction to one of the newest members of the Yankees: Eric Hacker. I had the good fortune of getting to spend some time on the phone with Eric recently to discuss his recent promotion to the Yanks 40 man roster, his ascension from the minors, his numerous comebacks from two serious injuries and what it must be like for a 25 year-old to get “the call” to play for the Yanks. His easy-going Texas drawl belies his dogged determination to make it to the Bigs no matter the obstacles. From what I could tell, the Yanks have a guy who won’t be afraid of anything, any challenge and has the character to succeed.

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