8:10pm: Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel reports that Olivera is indeed with Genske/Legacy, but he’s still entertaining pitches from other agents, which is complicating the bidding process and raising a good deal of additional questions (Twitter link).
9:51am: In a late-breaking move, free agent Cuban infielder Hector Olivera has fired trainer (and negotiation representative) Rudy Santin, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports on Twitter. Replacing him will be veteran agent Greg Genske of the Legacy Agency, according to a tweet from Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Despite the change of representation, bids are presently coming in for Olivera, according to Passan. While his precise timetable for signing remains unclear, it still appears that a signing will occur in relatively short order. Obviously, the club that lands Olivera will want to get him into camp as soon as possible.
Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs recently discussed some of Santin’s apparent tactics, which McDaniel says include an attempt to push public interest in his now-former client as a way of driving up bidding to levels that are not supported by the market. The early numbers that Olivera’s camp was seeing were disappointing, per McDaniel, at least when compared to the $70MM+ expectations that have been reported. And as Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports explains (Twitter links), there were industry concerns with Santin’s work on behalf of Olivera since he was not a certified agent.
