FEB. 24: Lazarito and his family refute the notion that they’re in any danger, Rosenthal writes in a new column. Lazaro Sr. tells Rosenthal that his family is in “absolute control” of its travel documentation and elected not to travel to the U.S. to meet with the Braves because only Lazarito, and not his parents, were invited. (Rosenthal notes that a second source confirmed the accuracy of that statement.)
Lazarito has already hired Octagon as his new representation, though the timing of the entire agency shuffle is rather bizarre, as Lazarito’s family claimed that Hairston’s comments were the impetus for the change in representation, but Hairston was claiming to no longer be representing Lazarito at the time he made his comments. Additionally, securing new representation in a matter of one day seems unlikely. Hairston followed up with Rosenthal and maintained that buscon is driving the thought process of the family in an effort to steer them toward signing with a particular team.
FEB. 23: Agent Charles Hairston and the Culture39 agency will no longer be representing Cuban outfielder Lazaro Armenteros after Hairston tells Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports that his life was threatened by a trainer/agent out of the Dominican Republic who also represents Armenteros. At least for the time being, Hairston will no longer be representing the Cuban phenom known as “Lazarito,” and there is now great uncertainty about when or how Armenteros will sign.
Many young players from Latin America are represented by trainers/agents known as “buscones,” who take these players under their wing as children and train, feed and house them in makeshift training camps. In exchange for helping develop the skills of these promising talents, a buscon will then receive roughly 20-25 percent of a player’s future salary if he should go on to sign a pro contract, Hairston explains. The rather unregulated nature of the buscon/player business relationship has led to other issues in the past — for instance, when multiple buscones lay claim to the same player, or when Leonys Martin was sued by a Mexican baseball academy for allegedly not paying the full share of what the academy felt was owed.
This situation with Lazarito’s buscon and Hairston is of an even more chilling nature, with Hairston declining to name the buscon out of concerns for the safety of Culture39 employees. According to Hairston, the buscon withheld travel documents from Lazarito and his parents, making them unable to travel from the Dominican Republic to the United States for a meeting Hairston had arranged with a team’s GM and ownership group.
“I feel for the kid. He is truly special. We are still looking forward to working with him when he comes to the United States once his situation is resolved….But when his safety and ours is put in jeopardy, we had to think about what is most important in life,” Hairston said.
The dispute allegedly centered around the buscon’s desire that Armenteros sign a contract as soon as possible, as opposed to waiting until the new international signing period opens on July 2. (When Hairston last discussed his ex-client’s situation two weeks ago, he noted that their camp was still uncertain as to when Armenteros would sign.) Signing in the current international class or the next would greatly shuffle the list of teams eligible to sign the 16-year-old, as his likely bonus would instantly put a team over its spending pool limit and subject it to a virtual two-year ban on blue chip international prospects. Such teams as the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants and Royals have already exceeded their cap in the current spending period and could add to their bounty by signing Lazarito now, while waiting past July 2 would freeze those teams out (as their penalties would begin) and clear the path for other clubs known to be planning a big splurge in the next international period, such as the Braves, Phillies and Padres.  Rosenthal and Morosi list the Dodgers, Padres and Braves as three teams with interest in Armenteros.
Hmm..well pl.ayed Braves! Now he has to wait until (at least) July 2nd to sign. There has to be a conspiracy here!
The buscon wants him to sign now so it is the other way around.
all this talk and still no stats.
.462/.611/.962 line in the 15 and under World Cup of baseball. Only 16 years old (maybe, you can never be certain when dealing with Cuban players) and 6’2″ 205. His speed and power combo has been compared to a young Bo Jackson or Willy Mays. Obviously those numbers are a small sample size against lesser competition and he’s very raw, but you can tell why the scouts are drooling over this kid.
Yeh and my kid hit .500 in Babe Ruth!!!
Come on man….stop buying into the hype by his “agents” about this yound Phenom!!!
Maybe, possibly, might be, never will be and for that you get to spend a ton of money and for what.
At 16 nobody knows how this kid is going to grow up and how his baseball skills might progress. Scouts are drooling????? The only guys drooling are the representative of “lazarito” who has never taken an at bat against the best ballplayers in the world….US Ballplayers!
You might not like it, but international players sign at 16 all the time. This is the way it works. While this kid could turn out to be a bust, like numerous top USA draft picks, he could also turn out to be a future HOF like Miguel Cabrera. Scouts miss more than they hit, internationally and domestically, but that doesn’t mean teams don’t continue to try.
In August 2014, he played in the 15U World Cup in Mexico, where he hit .462/.611/.962 with 10 walks and eight strikeouts in 36 plate appearances. There’s a small sample size for you. This kid has tons of people drooling over him and it is deserved
Really…see my comment above….too Mikeyst13
Nobody is buying into the hype. He asked for stats so we gave him the only stats out there. And yes, scouts are drooling over him. You must not remember Harper being a phenom at 14 either? Scouts freak out about kids like this. If he pans out awesome, if he doesn’t he joins the likes of all the other failed phenoms. No need to get emotional.
The statistics of a 15-year-old kid in fewer than 40 plate appearances from an international tournament are virtually irrelevant to the teams signing him, and more importantly, are completely irrelevant to the story being conveyed here by his now-former agency.
Right on Steve.
At 16…potentially a flash in the pan once he matures.
You mean to tell me that scouts with eyes on potential prospects all across the US that we can’t come up with any number of “phenoms” that are worth signing based on hard facts.
Why does it seem that none of the Cubans ever sign for major league minimum until they prove themselves. They all want BIG money for “potential” and a Badler scouting report that says their the second coming of Willie Mays
Your comments lead me to believe that you don’t fully understand the different ways MLB teams acquire talent. You should read more on the subject instead of putting down an entire nation of players.
To “the real ryan.
well bub, if you had seen any of my posts on young unproven ballplayers, you would know that my comments have nothing to do with putting down entire nation’s of talent.
None, let me say that again, none of these unproven Cuban ballplayers are willing to go through the say trials and appraisals that typical ball players in our major league systems go through. That is they all want BIG money to sign and are 50/50 to disappoint.
I’ve read more on baseball than you ever will pal.
Buscones are terrifying and the MLB should be doing WAY more to get them out of the process. They’re like pimps but honestly worse. If we’re going to be throwing this much $ around MLB could at least make some efforts to clean up the system.
I blame Obama.
I blame you.
I blame Lincoln
Lol. Me too!
I blame it on the rain, yeah yeah.
Ah that was fun.
No way this guy signs before July 2 now.
Ironic right? In an effort(?) to get him signed as quickly as possible, the buscon has all but assured he won’t be signing anything with anyone anytime soon.
That buscon/agent is quite the imbecile.
International players must be added to the June draft, no more free agents, just lets them ALL play by MLB’s rules. Who cares about age or developmental skills, I’m sick of the Dodgers signing everyone, and MLB needs to just have one draft that encompsses the globe.
Its time to wake up, that would never happen
Can we all be just a little bit embarrassed that we’re discussing Stat lines and draft eligibility when we should be talking about the safety and well being, not only of Charles hairston, lazarito, and their respective staff and families; but also of the countless lives ruined by the presence of buscoms and their ability to operate freely, corruptly, and without challenge. If you’re successful, your life and loved ones are figurately and sometimes literally held hostage. If you’re not successful, you wash out of these baseball schools with no marketable skills or education and are effectively forced to remain in the lower class.
It is absolutely embarrassing that major league baseball has chosen to turn a blind eye to the blatant corruption occurring as a result of our obsession with, “the next big thing.”
You’re going to have to leave, you’re scaring the others with all that logic and sympathy(fear of the unknown). Really though, this looks like it will get messy when/if they start digging into this… Really sad for the ballplayers/families, hope it is fixed soon.
MLB has taken action from where it was 10 years ago. Though obviously not enough to eliminate them. I am not sure what one expects the league to do, these are people ingrained into the local communities, often taking kids as young as 10 years old in a quasi foster parent/trainer role.
The issue is bigger than baseball.
Add this to the human traffickers and other shady characters who are involved with smuggling players out of Cuba and you have the toxic Latin American baseball situation. MLB will have to clean up this rat’s nest somehow, sooner rather than later, because it’s only a matter of time before something really bad and hard to shrug off happens.
How many Buscones have the Dodgers made deals with I highly doubt he is acting alone unless one of the teams in this signing period has offered a substantial amount of money for him to sign ASAP, his now ex agent seemed to be taking his time letting the kid think about his life altering decision. The dodgers are a trash team.
..
Considering Charles use to work for the Dodgers and his brother, Jerry Jr., now works for them, I’m going to assume you’re joking. Considering you’re post history, you probably aren’t.
Yeah the Dodgers are going to pass up on the chance on a once in a generation specimen because someone used to work with them get a clue, I also doubt they expected their little Buscone to resort to death threats. Cubans should avoid the Dodgers like the plague just look how badly they have mismanaged Puig and how many they have rotting in the minor leagues with no path to the majors.
You seem mad, so this will be my last post to you.
“Yeah the Dodgers are going to pass up on the chance on a once in a generation specimen because”
Well, they did last year with Moncada, choosing to spend this signing period without the Yankees and Red Sox.
You clearly do not know Moncada left Cuba legally.
To make that clear for you none of these types of characters would have any impact on his decision.
lol ok….
Teams have gotten away from that since the FBI investigation
Nice. All teams that sign players in Latin America are forced to deal with shady characters like these. Meaning, every one of them, So of course it is unfair and basically untruthful to lay that responsibility on any one team. MLB as an institution has turned a blind eye to this practice for years just as they have to the human traffickers who smuggle players out of Cuba. An international draft is the solution.
Talk to Puerto Rico about how an international draft wasn’t a solution at all. Many believe it has caused the baseball talent to dry up on the island. You have to understand, in this country there is a system in place for players to be seen in high schools and colleges. Latin America doesn’t have these well funded organizations in place. Once you start removing the financial incentive, many of these players will not have the opportunity to play and be discovered by American scouts.
Baseball is a mess in Puerto Rico for reasons that go far deeper than the international draft.
Don’t mean to get caught up on Puerto Rico but a big reason for the talent drying up over there is the decline in interest for the local game. A huge reason for that is there are no major stars playing winter ball like in the past. People were crazy for baseball at that time. Once the stars stopped playing, that began a gradual but steady decline in attendance and interest as a whole. In addition to that, there are more career paths/options including a massive emphasis on working in government that has contributed also. This isn’t a scientific answer but being from PR, this is just what my family and I have noticed.
College baseball is starting to see a huge trend in Puerto Rican players. Look at the D1 rosters and junior college rosters. It comes in trends and flows. There are college and pro scouts that scout PR heavily. When you have stars like Correa and others that are starting to integrate I think we will see that trend go up. The financial incentive will always be there for those that have an interest in it. The problem baseball has is trying to capitalize on making kids want to play baseball. The MLB is finally starting to do a good job with the RBI program. But it makes more sense to go to college and play football because of scholarship money. Therefore, if your not going to be a high draft pick your probably closing football or basketball over making less that 7,000 for 5 months to play in the minors. College baseball and softball are closer than they’ve been in a while to becoming revenue generating. You won’t see the cream of the crop athletes continually choosing baseball until it becomes a head count sport. That’s not going to happen as most ADs don’t want it to until the MLB pumps money into baseball and softball. Then maybe baseball surpasses football again.
The Real Ryan.
I guess your the international expert! Good comments by Visions of Blue LA
The island economy is also a mess (largely because of mainland political interference), and so is the baseball infrastructure. The takeaway point here is that the state of baseball in Puerto Rico is not an argument against an international draft. It isn’t an argument for it either. If this was an easy problem it would have been solved already. To reiterate an earlier comment, I hope it doesn’t take a tragedy for MLB to figure out a solution that takes these undesirables out of the game while retaining the integrity of the sport in the countries with organized professional play.
Leonys Martin signed with the Rangers, so does that make the Rangers a trash team too? Or is it just the Dodgers because of quantity?
May be a dumb question, but why pay a buscone at all? What power do they have once you’ve left the island? You now have the ability to relocate your whole family if you want. Are there usually legally binding agreements? I get throwing them some money as a thank you but not sending them a significant percentage.
These guys have ties to mob members. Families are also very big and they can always find someone you care about back there. Also if your whole family gets up and moves, which is a huge monetary issue its obvious you might be trying to dupe him. They also have connections to the states and might lose a bunch of money just to send a message.
These guys are scary. Not Colombian trafficking scary but scary nonetheless.
Because someone you care for will be hurt. These guys are the agents of your friends, know your kin, and have been in your life for years. They know where you’ve worked and who you grew up with, not to mention that life is much smaller in a place like that. Even with that money, can you really move 20-50 people to another country WITH documentation and obtain housing, while they try to learn to make a living in another country(more like another planet for them)? MLB should fix this, can’t take the talent and leave the problems.
Didn’t the Giants recently have a deal
in place with an international player’s agent that got sunk by buscones signing with another team? This “system” seems very broken.
yup! ended up with the cubs as a result
From that article, Hairston sounds beyond shady.
Endorsements? Clothing line? Best prospect in the world?
Dear lord.